The True Hearts of Pokémon
by G. Sun
Summary: Strange humans with odd quirks and appearances stumble upon Mia, Mizuki and Risa during their peacetime. As the heroes extend their hands to aid, will these foreign "humans" put their fragile trust in them? How will our heroes return them home while finding out what sinister creature brought the visitors in the first place and what will the girls learn about returning home?
1. The Hydrophilic Woman

**I couldn't NOT do this story as long as I continued to play the Pokémon games so I hope you enjoy this story the kid in me wanted to do for so long. Beeteedubs, the cover picture is from: jonathanjo from deviantart-Kingdom-hearts pokeball (putting up a direct link is hard) **

Sweat beads roll down the side of my face as I lay on the couch. The fan that I bought yesterday blows hot air on my body as it oscillates between me and the curtains. I couldn't sleep upstairs last night, the humidity was too much for me to bear so I crashed on the couch. I need to shower again, I feel gross. After getting off the couch and heading up to the bathroom, I take an ice-cold shower. When I get out I wrap myself in a towel and look at my reflection in the mirror. My hair's gotten longer since I came to this world, now it's down to the middle of my neck. I got my bangs trimmed yesterday while Mizuki got a regular trim; I've spent a lot of quality time with Mizuki for a few weeks since Risa hasn't been showing up to work. I haven't seen her in over two weeks, I hope she's feeling better.

I feel too guilty to go visit her at Angel Island, what she said to me about not stopping Seth, who caused Clancy to die, scares me. What if, despite all the things I went through and how much I grew up, I really didn't change? What if I'm still the frail little girl who adored Seth? No way, look at how different I am from when I first came to this world. I go into my room, slip on my undergarments, a tank top, and grey denim shorts. "That stuff Mizuki gave me worked," I say while I stare deeply into the bedroom mirror. The black eye Risa gave me is barely noticeable, the "Chinese" stuff Mizuki put around my eye really helped. I'm glad to have both Mizuki and Risa as friends even if Risa's really upset with me. Don too, he's been a cool friend even though he's been distant lately. As Mizuki says, "Boys will be boys".

Even though it's a hot day, I should get out of the house and go to work. I leave the house as my stomach grumbles in protest. I'll grab breakfast at that café in the city, "croissants" have become my guilty, buttery pleasure. I stroll to the main street, glancing at my slightly defined arms. The sun made me darker than usual, oh well that's how I get in the summer in Moonlight Town. This heat's nothing compared to Moonlight Town in its hottest months-I miss home so much. A harsh groan interrupts the cicadas and the birds' songs. "Where's that coming from?" I ask myself as the groaning persists from far behind me. Nobody's ever out here except Don occasionally, could that be him? "Don?"

I turn around and sprint towards the pained groans. The source comes from the bushes to my left and when I follow it I find someone lying in them. "What happened here? Are you okay?" I ask the uncomfortable stranger. The big-boned woman winces and then grunts as she tries turning on her side. "What should I do?" I ask myself worriedly. I don't have a phone, this woman is dying, and the hospital is miles away. "Can you stand up?" I ask. She grunts and suddenly thrashes around while stuck in the bushes. "I'll get you out of there, you have to stop," I urge as I try reaching for her hand. The moment I touch it she flinches suddenly. "I'm gonna get you help don't worry." I wipe the sweat off my hands and gently tug on her arm. She's a lot heavier than she looks but I get her to stand straight. The silver-haired woman instantly collapses on me and we hit the pavement. "This is gonna be harder than I thought."

I'm sweating profusely by the time I get her leaning against me. She's breathing softly, I still have a chance to save this stranger who's oddly marked with scarlet lines from her face down to her bare feet. Keeping my legs apart and pulling her arm over my shoulders, we start walking down the street carefully. "There's a hospital a long way from here. I'll get you there as fast as-"

"Wa-" she utters feebly as her platinum hair drapes over her shoulders. Abruptly she starts panting, bringing me to a stop. "Huh? What're you saying?"

"Wa-t-"

"Wat-water? You need water?" I guess. The stranger hesitates and then nods slowly while panting. Maybe she got dehydrated from the heat earlier this morning. If that's the case then the hospital in the city would take too long, I need to bring her to my place and rehydrate her quickly. Moving slightly faster than before, we walk to my house nonstop.

"Okay, we're here!" I unlock the door and leniently kick it open. "I'll put you on the sofa." By the time we reached the path to my house I could barely hear her breathe, I hope she hasn't passed out on me. I lift her limp arm over my head and hold her side as we head to the couch. Then I lay her down on her back and rush to the sink to get a clean glass of water. I hurry over to the couch, sit her up, and slowly tip the glass so the water reaches her mouth. Her eyes open instantly as she snatches the glass and gulps down the water. "More?" I wonder. She nods enthusiastically so I run to the sink and back. Again she gulps the entire glass down in two seconds. "You should slow down, you could choke," I suggest. She squeezes the glass so hard I'm afraid it'll break; silently she gazes at empty glass. With a strained expression, she looks at me and shakily hands me the glass.

"More," she says louder than before. I make a mad dash to the refill the glass and give it back to her. The dehydrated stranger takes another two gulps and then crushes the glass. "Water," she firmly says she curiously looks at the glass shards stuck in her palm. I gasp as I take her palm and pluck them out one by one. "Why did you do that? Thank God you didn't get cut that bad-you're really thirsty," I observe her bleeding cuts while taking out the last two shards. Why does she have these markings on her? "I'll get something bigger, just don't move." I step over the broken glass, pick up a steep bowl from the sink and fill it up. As soon as I bring it back to her she chugs the bowl down and some of it spills on her face and couch. Without her needing to say anything, I refill the bowl until it's practically spilling over and bring it to the thirsty stranger. This time she sips the water and pours the rest of it on her head.

"Under…the water," she says excitedly as I take the bowl back before she destroys it. I glance at the bowl and give her a confused look as she stares at her hand and then the glass fragments on the floor. "Uh what?"

"Under….I need to be underwater."

"Wha? Not with your cuts."

"Underwater."

"Are you feeling better?" I ask as I refill the bowl again. After gulping it down and letting it cascade down her head, she nods and repeats, "Underwater." The beach is so far away from here, I don't think she can walk there by herself. I have to work with what I got here-oh, the bathroom!

"Okay we're going upstairs, come on," I get her arm over my neck and stand her up cautiously. We avoid the broken glass and make it upstairs gradually. I bring her to the bathroom and lean her against the door while I turn the faucet on for the bathtub I never use. "You can't drink this water," I tell her as the tub fills up. At the sight of the water she widens her eyes and moves towards the tub willingly. "Wait, wait one more second," I urge as I block her. She overpowers me easily, pushing me to the side as she slides into the tub. "Hey you're gonna have to take off your clothes-"

She's already comfortably in the tub, positioning herself so that she gets all the water pouring out of the faucet. Is she a fish? I've never seen anyone who likes water _that much_. By the time the tub starts overflowing, I turn the faucet off to her obvious disappointment. "I'll give you your privacy." I leave the room and sigh tiredly. "What a weird grown-up." Was picking her up a good idea? Her normalcy as a grown-up becomes more questionable the longer I interact with her. "Is everything okay in there?"

"Yeeees, not very spacious though," she says her first sentence clearly and then sighs peacefully.

"Can I come in to talk to you?" I ask her nervously.

"Yeeeees," she replies, her tone thick with water. I open the door to find her submersed under the water. She stares at me with curious dark honey eyes and emerges to the surface. "Is this your ocean?"

"No, there is one but it's far away. Is this enough water for you?"

"For now."

"Umm…what happened to you?" She plunges herself under the bath water and sighs while staring at me. She comes back up and I glance at her thick arms and chubby legs, wondering how I got her here on my own. "Something took me."

"What? You were kidnapped?"

"I don't know."

"Where do you live? What's your name?"

"Underwater. I need to get back."

"You live underwater?" Judging by how much water she drinks and her constant need for water, I think that makes sense. She's definitely not a normal human, what do I do from here? What would Mizuki or Risa do in this situation? "Ah, work! I'm sorry but I've gotta go. I'll help you out later."

"Why would you help me?" asks the stranger distrustfully. That's a good question, why am I helping her? Well duh, it's the right thing to do.

"I couldn't leave you out there, it would be wrong," I reply kindly, shocking her a bit. "Anyway I'll help you out later, I've gotta go to work."

"You're leaving me here alone?"

"Is that okay? The towels are in that closet and the guest room is next door. Have any food you want!"

' ' '

Maybe I shouldn't have entrusted my house to a stranger I just met. That was really bad judgment on my part, but it's not like there's a lot for her to take. She seemed more interested in water more than anything else so maybe she'll just drink more water after bathing. Crossing the street over to Mr. Erick's office, I catch a glimpse of Mizuki and Risa walking towards his office. I quickly wave at them, grabbing their attention, "Hi guys!"

"Hey Mia," Mizuki greets warmly while Risa waves. I cross the street when no cars are coming and flash a smile at them. "Such good timing, I've got something to ask you," says Mizuki.

"What?"

"Have you seen a child with his eyes closed today? So like, a blind kid." At first I think it's the starting line for a joke but Mizuki's serious face disproves that theory. I shake my head and she swears exasperatedly.

"I am looking for two people, both have markings on their skin. One might be wearing all red and the other blue, have you seen either of them?" asks Risa urgently. She seems a lot better than she did the last time I saw her. I apprehensively look down and then answer, "I haven't seen anyone in red but there's a girl who was wearing a blue dress at my house. She has red markings on her skin."

"That could be who he was going on about," Risa tells Mizuki, "But first you need to talk to Erick, right?"

"Yeah," Mizuki says determinedly.

"What's going on here guys?" I ask confusingly.

J.G.P.


	2. Kids in Ostentatious Tuxedos

I've never heard a more pleasing sound in my life than the A/C humming. As I lie in bed comfortably, I turn on the TV and release a sigh of tranquility. After that whole Risa thing I feel like I need a break from her. Good thing Don happened to be stalking us otherwise Risa would still be in that dangerous, fragile state of mind. Risa hasn't been to work in like four weeks, I hope she can make it today. I miss her but I'm kinda afraid to approach her while she's grieving. I shiver thinking about it...and 'cause it's really cold in here.

From the bits and pieces I got out of Risa's outburst, I gather that Seth got Clancy involved with Darkness. Clancy didn't like it and killed himself instead of fighting it, a cowardly move. Is Darkness that strong and overbearing? Dori, the Dark form of time itself, is as strong as Seth is. In fact he's so strong that he almost absorbed me, so why doesn't Light make me strong? It's not fair that those boys get to have all the power and the rest of us have to struggle to get by.

I roll off the bed then lean on the side of it while barely listening to the TV. "Light and Darkness have their advantages but what's the Light's?" All the Light does is let Darkness overtake it, that's how me, Risa, and Mia lost our worlds. Why wasn't the Light strong enough then? Every time we pin the Darkness down, it rises back up more powerful than ever. Seth, Dori, the Heartless, they all just keep coming back no matter how many times we beat them. Why does it keep coming back to us?

"Well I can't think of any way to get rid of Darkness for good," I climb back up on the bed, fed up with thinking about stupid things. I woke up early 'cause I wanted to do a mission but I think I'll kick it today. The humming of the A/C drones on, creating a sweet lullaby for this hot day. I fall back on my pillow and play with my trimmed hair until I get bored. Ten minutes later I sit up, wondering why the TV is off. I must have hit the remote when I dozed off, wait no, I put it on the night table so why is it right next to me? I pick it up and push the _Power _button but there's no response from the TV. "What the hell? Out of juice?" I smack the back of the remote and try turning the TV on again. A dark hand shoots out of the television screen and grabs my head. Broken glass flies all over the carpet while I instantly lose my breath. I feel another one take hold of my body, its angular fingers squeezing the life out of me. Screaming is impossible as I'm lifted off the bed and pulled to where the hands came from. I open my eyes and realize it's my sweaty hands covering my face. As I take in a deep breath and drop my hands, I sit up and see that the TV's still on and everything that happened was nothing but a nightmare, a really freaky one. "Jeez, that was so scary," I mutter under my breath. Huge purple hands? What was that all about? Having that donut last night before I went to bed must've messed with my dream pattern. Speaking of which, I'm gonna head out to grab some more but I'm never eating that shit before bed again.

I leave the hotel and walk to the convenience store down the block to find police cars scattered in front of the deli's entrance. There's a small gathering of people in front that are obstructing me from seeing anything inside the store. I tap on a random spectator's shoulder and ask him, "What's going on over here?"

"There was a break-in early this morning-oh you're the kid hero-"

"Alright stop with that! Just tell me about the break-in," I know this is a city and there are robberies in Tokyo all the time but it still irks me. This place is right down the block from where I live! "I was just there last night. Is Mr. Cloonan okay?"

"He's fine, nobody got hurt and weirdly enough nothing was taken."

"Seriously?"

"Not a single thing, at least that's what the police are saying. This city is getting weirder and weirder." Breaking away from the crowd before they realize I'm there, I speed down the sidewalk. Great, now I have to go to the supermarket twenty minutes away to get some food.

' ' '

The supermarket had no donuts so I settled for everything bagels, a lot of them. People will think I'm a total fatass but I need as much as I can to last me until the end of the week. Two bagels spill out of the small paper bag onto the parking lot pavement. "Damn it. Five second rule!" I grab one and as I'm about to take the other something black darts in front of my face and sprints towards the parking lot exit. I realize my bag is gone and there are bagels spilling all over the street. "Hey, get back here!" I'm so hungry, I'd kill 'em to get those cream cheese-filled bagels back. The little boy almost gets run over by some cars pulling out and nearly jumps in front of them while hugging that bag to his chest. With some sheer luck the cars stop just in time while honking at the thief. He makes his way out of the parking lot but that doesn't mean I'm letting him escape.

Abruptly everything comes to a grinding halt. The cars on the street, the annoying horns, the people getting pushed by this kid-everything's frozen in space. I catch up to the boy, observing him while taking back my bag of bagels. He's a peach-skinned kid donned with a baby blue tuxedo with zigzagged tail ends. I notice a ruddy jewel encrusted on his head and he's got a strange light indigo, cone-shaped hairstyle. Time unfreezes when I'm done looking at him and the kid continues to take off but quickly realizes his hands are empty. "That'll teach you to steal," I taunt. Judging by the look of fear on his face I bet he's thinking "What the hell did she do?" Suddenly he rushes for the brown bag but I lift it high over my head, making him jump up and down desperately. "You're not gettin' it this way," I tell him.

I can always tell how old people are just by looking at them, but for some reason I don't know how old this kid is. "Are you that hungry? I'll just give it to you, Grabby." I take out two uncut bagels and he snatches them triumphantly. He shoves them in his mouth one at a time and chokes instantly, I don't even think he chewed. "That's not how you eat a bagel!" I pound him in the back and the soggy bagels come out whole. "Now you wasted them. I can buy you a couple of them, okay? Sheesh, didn't your parents tell you not to steal from others?" He coughs like a sick old man with thick mucus stuck in his throat and eventually calms down.

"You didn't hurt me. Why?" the boy asks suspiciously as we walk alongside each other back into the parking lot. "You hit me but-"

"You were gonna die_ choking on a bagel_. That'd be a pretty pathetic way to die."

"Can you get more of these bagels? My sister needs them."

"I shouldn't give you a damn thing. But 'cuz I'm nice I'll oblige." Ten minutes later, we leave the supermarket holding bags of bagels and other things he thought looked interesting: kid's yogurt, rice cakes, and basically anything with a lot of sugar and carbs. I'm assuming this kid is poor since he didn't have money to buy a thing but he's in the weirdest looking tux I've ever seen. "I'll take them to her. Thank you for the food," he tries reaching for the other plastic bag but I step back. "What're you doing?"

"Not letting you do that. You can't carry all that by yourself, you're a little kid. Let's go," I insist to his displeasure.

"But she-"

"Ah, ah, ah, I bought the food, I make the rules."

"You're stubborn."

"So are you kid, now let's go!"

"I'm not a kid, I'm-why're you trying to help me?"

"You obviously need it, now let's go get these bagels to your sister 'kay?" He nods reluctantly and he takes off. "Slow down, you're too fast and I'm too slow." The kid brings me to a shady alley way close to the convenience store that had the break-in. We step over the passed out hobos and stop in front of a dumpster. He bends down and drops the plastic bag with the food he picked out on the foul-smelling ground. A person behind the dumpster grabs it and I place the second bag besides her conspicuously clean shoes. The other boy sits next to her and carefully eats his bagel while I scrutinize the young girl leaning against the wall. Her magenta hair is unkemptly draping over her chest and she looks nothing like her brother besides the same sunny eyes, skin tone, tux, and eating manners. "Chew slowly first and then swallow," I instruct her as I step to where she and her brother are. The girl stares at me distrustfully and then the bagel as if I poisoned it. Her brother nods to her and then she shoves the whole thing in her mouth, following my instructions. "Thank you, this food should be enough," says the boy while trying the Froggy brand, strawberry yogurt. He doesn't expect it to melt in his mouth 'cuz he makes a face but nonetheless eats the rest of it.

"You guys live here with hobos?" I ask but nobody answers.

"Did you see-?" the magenta-haired girl asks her brother and he shakes his head dejectedly. "We need him, we can't do a thing without him." What's this weird feeling I'm getting? Besides their hair, something about them seems really off-I feel as though they don't belong here. I don't mean in this alleyway-'cause children with fancy tuxes sitting next to smelly bums screams suspicious-I mean here in this city. They're definitely foreigners but not the normal kind, _the me, Risa, and Mia kind_. But I'm not picking up any bad vibes from these dirty little kids, I actually feel bad that they're stuck in this situation. "Don't you two have parents or someone to take care of you?"

"We are-no, we have neither," the boy answers tentatively as he tosses the empty yogurt cup to the side. "We take care of ourselves."

"I'm sorry to hear that," I say regretfully. "So I heard you're looking for someone else?"

"We will find him ourselves," she shuts me down quick after devouring her third bagel.

"Oh come on," I protest, wondering why I'm listening to a rugrat anyway. "Listen you kids obviously don't know the city all too well and you're not in any position to wander around. Leave it to me."

"But-!"

"She is quite persistent, she doesn't take no for an answer," interrupts the young boy, reassuringly patting his pink-haired relative on the shoulder. "I don't think she means to cause us any harm. Could you please look for our brother with bright yellow hair? He's…blind. His eyes will be closed and he'll be in one place."

"Or he might be on the move," adds the magenta-haired girl worriedly, crumbs on her cheeks. "If you could find him, we'd be grateful."

"Just eat up and I'll be back with your brother," I reassure her with a thumbs-up. Both of them look baffled by the gesture so I briefly enlighten them, "It means I got it."

I leave the two children to discuss things among themselves. If anyone knows about stuff out of the ordinary like those two strange kids with the wild hair colors, it's gotta be Erick right? Plus I need to tell him I'm taking the day off to search for this kid. "Mizuki!" Behind me, I find Risa sprinting towards me, out of breath. "What's going on? How have you been?" I ask casually.

"Have you seen someone wearing all red with markings on their body?"

"Uh no-"

"What about someone in all blue?"

"I met some kids who were wearing all blue with bright red jewels on their heads."

"He never mentioned a jewel, I do not think that is who I am looking for."

"What's up? I'm heading to Erick's office, we can talk about it on the way there," I say nonchalantly her as we walk down the block. She's no longer wearing that dirty kimono with blood on it, she's wearing a short maroon one with an orange sash around her hips. Looks like she's cleaned herself up, that's a relief. "Believe it or not, this morning a man came to Angel Island from the sky and told me he was from another world. We got into a minor scuffle but Knuckles and I managed to calm him down. He said it was important that I find these people in all red and blue," she explains, probably still stunned from what just happened to her. If she told me this months ago, I would've slapped her and thought she was crazy. But with all the occult things that I've experienced in the past nine months, I'll believe anything.

"I totally believe you without a doubt Risa. Hey, random question, see a blind kid with blonde hair?"

"No, I just left the island. I know I am asking a lot considering the last time we saw each other was-"

"In the past, don't worry about it," I reassure her. "No hard feelings." She looks up to the bright sky and sighs as if my words took a load off her shoulders. Eventually we come up to Erick's office, unable to exchange small talk with each other thanks to some awkward tension. "Here we are," I decide to break the ice.

"Hi guys!" Mia grabs my attention from across the street. I greet her amiably and when she crosses the street I ask her about the kid I'm looking for. She shakes her head with a lost look on her face. I'm glad the Chinese herb mixture my uncle told me about worked on her black eye and those scars she had on her face. "Shit!" I curse. How hard can it be to find a squirt who sticks out like a sore thumb? Risa inquires Mia about the people she's looking for too.

"I haven't seen anyone in red but there's a girl who was wearing a blue dress at my house. She had red markings on her skin," she says, befuddled at why we're asking her all this at once.

"That could be who he was going on about," Risa says hopefully to me. "But first you need to talk to Erick, right?"

"Yeah."

"What's going on here guys?" Mia finally asks.

"There's something I need to talk to Erick about, come on!" I go into his office first to find that he's not at his desk. Risa and Mia enter behind me, just as confused as I am.

"Where is he?" Mia wonders aloud.

J.G.P.


	3. Sky Descendent

If only the summer nights in the Village of the Willow were as pretty as they are in this world. The clouds clear up some nights and I can see the twinkling stars that are within my reach. Other nights it drizzles and pours, thick grey clouds would swallow the life in the sky. I have spent every day on this island since Clancy died. Although Don's words made sense and have given me a new purpose in life, I still do not feel right about how I treated Mizuki and Mia, my good friends. I doubt they would forgive me so readily, I would not forgive me that easily. Knuckles reassured me, "_They're all your friends, they have to forgive you!" _so maybe he is right. They were willing to get on this island to try to talk sense into me and got Don to help, Don of all people. It is good to have all of them, even Knuckles despite our arguments. I am glad to have met these people, they are the only blessings I got when I arrived on this island. Thinking of them eases the guilt that has burrowed itself in my chest and keeps me awake at night. I have not had a full night's rest since the incident happened. Every time I closed my eyes I used to see myself thrust Clancy's Keyblade in his chest; I am still convincing myself that did not actually happen.

When I cannot sleep I train all night so that I can master my Keyblade and these other powers. By doing that then maybe I will have a chance to bring us all home. Every bead of sweat that rolls off my face, every fight I get into, it is for all for us. Knuckles suggested in his own way I should relax more but it is difficult, not only because of my promise but because his snores are loud enough to keep me up any night-like today. I think before the sun reaches the highest point in the sky I should try controlling water instead of messing with the earth like I usually do. I sit up while tucking my hair in my kimono and spot a long, dark stem reaching into the clouds. I shake Knuckles awake to his vexation, "What the-what's goin' on?"

"Over there!" I run down the altar steps. Something's blood-curling scream from above the clouds wakes me up completely. The deep mauve and ruddy stem seeps into the ground like a whip being pulled back. My instincts tell me to cut this thing down so I bring out the Keyblade and slice through it horizontally. The top half of the stem disappears in a black mist and the bottom half retracts back into the ground as Knuckles rushes to my side. "What the hell was that-what is that?"

"Someone is coming down," I notice, backing up a little. A body drops from the clouds and Knuckles manages to grab the sky descendent. Even in the safety of Knuckles' face-sized hands the man convulses and screams madly. "You need to calm-" the man's shouting devours my sentence.

"Hey stop screaming already, I got you," reassures Knuckles in his own gruff way. "Is there something wrong with him?"

"Obviously," I reply sternly. I catch a glimpse of yellow ovals that have been traced all over his gangling body as he tosses and turns rebelliously. His light amber eyes dart from me to Knuckles while he scrambles out of Knuckles' grasp. He backs away from us but stumbles over and stares at his hands and shoes as if they are foreign objects. "Stop screaming, you are not hurt." Surprisingly he listens to me but gasps while patting his body all over.

"Is he another friend of yours?" Knuckles asks me suspiciously.

"I know as much as you do," I answer and then to the strangely marked man, "How did you get on this island?" His head snaps up and then he growls furiously while stumbling to his feet. "I am not-"

"Leave this place at once human!" he opens his mouth wide, startling me. Nothing happens and it comes as a surprise to him too. "How dare you wake me in my resting place!"

"What the hell are you talking about? You came here, this isn't your island!" argues Knuckles.

"You will pay!"

He jumps in the air and does not come back down. "He is hovering over the ground," I mutter in shock. "How-?" The floating man opens his mouth and lets out an animalistic growl but nothing else. Although shocked, Knuckles springs towards the man and lands a powerful punch in his face, making the sky descendent grounded. "This is Angel Island, _my island_, you got that punk?" Knuckles hollers. As I hurry over to them, I keep the Keyblade pressed against the man's neck while Knuckles has him pinned down by his feet.

"This-Angel Island? No, that's-where am I? Where's the pillar?" the man seems more confused and scared than malevolent. Nonetheless, the Keyblade remains firmly at his neck. It is too early in the morning for this kind of insanity. "You-you will pay for disturbing me human!" he declares when he tries jolting off me. Why did this _human man_ call me a _human_?

"Do you see the position you are in? I will hurt you if you do not stop," I warn stolidly as he continues to struggle beneath me. I shove my sandals into his palms and bring the sharp tip to his neck which gets him more excited. "Cut it out already!" shouts Knuckles which agitates him further.

"We can tell you everything once you tell us everything. You need to calm down and realize that we are no threats to you unless you try hurting us, do you understand?" I tell him sangfroid. We wait for him to finish his fit of excitation patiently, I assume Knuckles also realized we should wait this out. Finally he closes his mouth and drops his head to the grass, his eyes telling me that he has surrendered. "Knuckles you can let go of his feet, he will not try anything." I release his hands and stand up as I remind him, "You can let go."

"Fine but if he makes a move he shouldn't…" Knuckles threatens as I cautiously watch every movement the stranger makes. The man glares at Knuckles, his fists shaking with rage, perhaps? "Give us some space please," I order Knuckles, who obliges reluctantly with a loud grunt. Knuckles being here is only pissing him off further. "Are you hurt?" I ask the stranger. He observes his arms and legs interestingly and then shakes his head with rancor expression on his face. "So why were you screaming?"

"Something took me and it didn't feel good-it felt sinister," his voice is unstable and shaky. "Where am I?"

"On Angel Island. Where did you come from?"

"The sky."

"I have never seen you in the sky before."

"High in the sky, humans wouldn't see me," stammers the man donned in forest green attire. Despite how terrified he was moments ago, he sounded somewhat smug in that statement.

"We are at an extremely high altitude. Besides, I am sure my friend over there would have told me about you," I nod towards Knuckles. "He has lived on this island for all of his life. Maybe_…maybe we are not talking about the same sky_, what did you say about a pillar?" He clenches his fists and snarls in a low tone while baring his teeth, probably thinking I am going to be intimidated by that. "It is going to take more than a few snarls to scare me. You are the trespasser so you answer my questions."

While gnashing his teeth, he unwillingly replies, "I was resting atop my pillar. Something sinister pulled me out of the pillar...I changed-I ended up here," his tone suggests he is hiding something. He narrows his eyes at Knuckles. "Who is that? He reminds me of-" He gasps out of realization, getting his feet without a problem. "If I'm in this place, they have to be here too. I can't have them fighting." Like rocks crumbling, he drops to the grass, his legs weak from the trauma he has experienced. "The world's in jeopardy."

"So you are not from this world, something brought you here…does that mean your world has been taken?" He does not hear me, he is in his own world babbling about finding "those two". It is the only logical answer as to how he ended up here. If he got here from another world, then maybe he has an idea on how to return! No, I doubt he would know and especially not now with him being so high-strung. If I help him then maybe he could shed light on what really happened to him. He could give me some clue on how to return home. "You are looking for someone?"

"Those two _have_ to be here. I have to find them before it's too late," he disregards me completely. I lightly tap his shoulder and he snaps around with his fingers bent, ready to strike me at a moment's notice. "I can help you find these people. You said they might be here right?" I hold my hands up and the Keyblade disappears.

"It is my duty to handle this, keep out of it."

"You can barely walk let alone stand. I can look for your friends in the city," I assure him. He shakes his head avidly to my dismay. "You just went through a lot, let the responsibility rest on me for this morning." He crosses his arms and glowers at me. "I am not a bad person, just tell me what they look like and I can do my best to find them. Knuckles will not let you leave the island after all of this."

"I can leave _whenever I please_ you smug human," retorts the sky descendent bitterly. I am about to shove him back but I stop before all his rage returns like a loyal servant. "You just entered this world, you are barely able to stand, your anger gets the best of you, you are as frail as a stick. If you attempt to leave this island I can break you, do you understand?" I threaten composedly while I put my hands on my hips. His expression shifts from bitterness to loathing. "Knuckles can take you down faster than I can."

"What kind of Pokémon is he?" he asks, calmer than a few seconds ago but still angered by the threat.

"A what? Ask him whatever that is. Now the people you are looking for, what do they look like?"

He sighs irately and slumps his thin shoulders. "One of them might be wearing all blue and the other all red. They are huge but...might be different. It is imperative that you find them before they meet each other," stresses the stranger. "They will have markings on their skin, slightly different than mine."

"Knuckles, watch him. I am leaving now."

"Got it. He's not leaving this island."

' ' '

"Where is he?" wonders Mia inside Erick's office. Mizuki puts her hands on her hips and heads straight for his desk. "Mizuki, what're you doing?"

"After I beat up Dori, Erick took me to his crashpad downstairs. He might be in his basement," she gets on the floor and feels around his desk and then she gasps. "The trapdoor is right here!" She pulls it open and yells down it, "Erick you down there?"

"Don't be scared," he murmurs to someone. "Mizuki, close my door, I'll be up there in a second. You guys need missions?"

"Actually no, we're all busy with stuff so we're not taking any missions," says Mizuki curtly with a gleeful smile. We all back away from the trapdoor and Erick comes up, not looking as friendly as he usually does. "I would appreciate it if you didn't show everyone where I live Mizuki," scolds Erick leniently. "Hello Risa, Mia. Nobody is here for work? What a shame, I had some high paying missions. Then what're you girls doing here?"

"Have you seen someone in all red with markings on their body?" I ask first.

"No, why do you ask? A friend of yours? Speaking of friend, I'm sorry to hear about yours," he says politely. "I was told of what happened."

"It is fine," I assure him sadly. Before I can continue Mizuki interrupts, "What about a blind kid? Seen him passed out on the streets somewhere?" Erick stiffens up and strokes his chin hairs. "He's got a blonde hair and probably's wearing a blue tux."

"What's that about?"

"Two kids I met this morning are looking for their blind brother. Have you seen him?"

"Well that is interesting because there is someone down here that might fit that description. Come downstairs," he gestures for us to follow him down the steps and we oblige eagerly. "Now he's very timid so don't be too loud. His eyes are closed but he can see all of you-I thought he was blind but he told me otherwise." The "him" Erick is referring to is lying in a bed and hiding his face behind his golden hair while holding a bowl of cereal. "You can trust these girls, they don't mean any harm to you." He sits on the bed and rubs the boy's back gently. The shy boy puts the bowl on the bed and covers himself in the bed sheets. "One of them might've found your siblings."

"Can I see your clothes for a few seconds?" Mizuki asks formally, softening her tone for the child. He lowers the sheets cautiously, realizing we are not monsters hiding under the bed; Erick whispers some reassuring words that make him faintly smile. The boy climbs out of bed and tenses up, he grips his arms and hugs himself with a soft groan. In the center of his forehead, a bright garnet gleams. "Yup, you're definitely the one. A girl with pink hair and a boy with blue hair are looking for you. I'll take them to you okay?"

"Really?" the young kid's shoulders relax. "You're helping us?"

"You betcha'." The child runs to Mizuki and hugs her briefly, then shrinks away bashfully. "How did he end up with you Erick?"

Erick scratches his hair and rises from the bed with a content sigh. "Early this morning I went to go to the twenty-four hour supermarket to get breakfast and as I was coming back, I heard someone screaming on Eve Drive and I found this kid. He was frightened at first and would scurry away every time I moved. He kept telling me to not to look at him, it took awhile to convince him that I wouldn't hurt him. He was starving too so I gave him my breakfast and brought him here to get him full. He was in the middle of telling me what happened to him and I learned something interesting," explains Erick.

"What is it?" Mizuki demands. The golden haired boy seems interested in what Erick learned as well.

"This child is from another world."

"Really?" asks a surprised Mia. Erick nods as he tussles the child's sunflower blonde hair. "It seems he was taken by what he claims to be 'a hand of Darkness' and brought here. I can trust him in your hands Mizuki," he says confidently. "Good luck to you, Uxie."

"Thank you Erick," he smiles up at him, his shy barrier crumbling in front of us. Erick stops smiling at him and seriously gazes at Mizuki. "Could you tell that he was from another world?"

"Uh, yeah. I recognized the feeling when I met his brother and sister. So there's these three and Risa's dude-"

"Have something you want to share?" Erick's interest is piqued up and he gestures for us to go upstairs.

"A man came to Angel Island and I surmised he is from another world," we all get upstairs and the four of us get in front of the desk while Erick sits down in his chair. "He said he was snatched by a hand that felt evil and I think I saw it. He told me that there was probably someone in all blue and someone in all red in this world."

"I see."

"Um, the person Risa might be talking about is at my house," Mia speaks up. "She's out of the ordinary for sure."

"Well it seems that there are other worldly visitors besides us. Their arrivals sound physically forced, unlike what happened to us. Something directly pulled them out of their worlds, but then why stop here?" he asks pensively. "Unless this world is the primary destination."

"Hey, there's a kid who basically got kidnapped in the room," Mizuki points out to Erick in disgust. "He's probably upset about what happened. Can we save the serious discussion for later?"

The little boy named Uxie clears his throat and stuns all of us with his assertive tone, "We interrupted whatever grabbed us, that's why we've been scattered. But that doesn't necessarily answer your question, right?"

J.G.P.


	4. The Truth About the Woman in the Bathtub

"What do you mean by 'interrupted'?" I ask Uxie who doesn't seem afraid of us anymore. He steps away from Mizuki and "looks" at all of us apathetically. "The people you are speaking of sound like my brethren. When we were being taken away in our true forms, my siblings and I used our power to morph ourselves into humans. That abrupt change caused whatever was pulling us to stop since it sensed a change in our powers, sizes, etcetera. Therefore we ended up in different locations and not at our proper destinations," Uxie explains clearly.

"When you said morph into humans'," Mizuki wonders apprehensively, "What does that really make you?"

"We are a nonhuman species of creatures referred to as Pokémon, they are most likely unfamiliar to everyone in this world. As I said these human containers aren't our true forms, it was in our best interest I turn us into humans so we can conceal ourselves from this malicious force," he replies perceptively. "In addition to that, my siblings and I have given our brethren the ability to speak this world's universal language to communicate with humans."

"Uxie do you recall your world suddenly becoming dark, perhaps the sky was red?" guesses Erick.

"Me nor my brother and sister saw a darkening sky. There was only an oddly shaped hand that snatched us, I saw most of my brethren being dragged away in thick blackness. When we became human, every one of us was thrown around erratically," he describes his awful predicament. "On another note, without us governing our respectful worlds they will collapse."

"So you're not all from the same world?" I ask him, slowly processing all this information. I should be used to hearing about such things but I feel bad that's happened to this little boy and the woman in my bathtub. He doesn't seem distraught about it though, he's handling it better than I did. "We are but we are not. From where we come from there are different regions separated from each other and some of us belong to the same region. I could explain the geographic positions each region has in relation to the other but it wouldn't serve much of a purpose to you," he says a bit arrogantly. I expected this child to be afraid and confused like I was when I came here but he's leading the discussion. "Anyway, it is in our best interests that we all meet up to discuss how we are going to return to our worlds. I need to be brought back to my brother and sister." Then he points at Risa, "Your Pokémon needs to be brought to her," his finger is at me now. Risa and I exchange confident nods at each other.

"Thank you for enlightening us Uxie but I have another question to ask before everyone takes off," Erick leans forward in his chair so that his desk fan is blowing directly at him. "Why tell us all this? We could be working with the sinister being that took you."

"Mr. Erick!" I protest but he solemnly stares at Uxie's closed eyes. The clever child folds his arms behind his back while smiling halfheartedly. "Although the concept is naïve, I have put some trust in you," replies Uxie. "No one in here harbors any malcontent from my observations."

"Fair enough," Mr. Erick seems satisfied with his answer. "I'm sure you girls can figure this all out. Each of you has at least one of these Pokémon so I'm giving this responsibility to you three."

"Aww what? This is up your lane of world expertise Erick," objects Mizuki rudely.

"Well no one is working for me today, this seems like a good excuse doesn't it? As far as I know you're all out of vacation days." The three of us sigh all at once and leave humid office with the Pokémon Uxie. The afternoon sun takes a break behind the clouds, casting a shady shadow on the street.

"Okay, once Brainiac joins up with his peeps," Mizuki begins, immediately seizing the leader role from the insightful child. Uxie immediately cuts her off, "Uxie is my name."

"Once Uxie joins up with his peeps we're on our way to your place Mia," she rolls her eyes at Uxie.

"Why mine?"

"It can fit like thirty people in there, it's a perfect place to meet up. No offense Risa but I doubt Knuckles would like all these people on Angel Island." That red little guy was annoyed at us when Mizuki and I got on the island before. Maybe he's not a people person. Risa nods understandingly and declares, "I will bring the man to Mia's house right away."

"And the others?" Uxie wonders impatiently. "That's merely five of us. Seven more are still missing." Mizuki exhales exasperatedly. "What happened to the shy little kid who couldn't even speak? We'll worry about that later, now let's split!" So that girl in my bathtub isn't really human? It makes sense considering her behavior but I'm still baffled by what happened to Uxie and the rest of the Pokémon. If they were pulled in by something then that means they were targeted, why them? Anyway, I should ask that girl in my bathtub about all this to confirm what Uxie told us. If he trusts us then the others will have to do the same.

When I enter my house, I glance around for that girl but she's nowhere to be found. Could she still be in the bathroom after all this time? I pick up one glass shard I missed when I cleaned up the broken cup and throw it in the trash. Scratching my oily hair, I head upstairs and knock on the bathroom door. "Are you in there?"

"I am!"

"I'm coming in." I've been gone for more than two hours and she's still in the tub. She resurfaces and lets her arms dangle outside the tub. "What kind of place doesn't have a sea?" she rhetorically asks, dropping her hands in the tub with a huge splash. I catch a glimpse of her palms, cut-free as if she never got hurt. It's time to confirm everything Uxie said. "Do you know someone named Uxie?"

"Who's that?" asks the woman as she sits back comfortably.

"He did say you might be from other regions," I think aloud. "Maybe you two aren't from the same one."

"What're you talking about?" she leans her head back so her scalp can soak up some water. I explain to her everything Uxie told me and she is shocked beyond belief, sinking to the bottom of the bathtub dejectedly. Her nonchalance is shaken from the information I gave her. "You can't be serious?" she asks underwater.

"I am unfortunately. So you're a Pokémon too?" I ask while she comes up, spitting out excess bathwater.

"Yes, although I'm surprised that another Pokémon would tell you all of this," she answers after a brief hesitation. "We don't tend to trust you humans with these matters."

"Is that why you didn't tell me before?"

"Yes but I trust you now," she says earnestly in a soft tone, "You're taking care of me, I'm grateful for that. What else did this Uxie say?"

"That's really all he told us, sorry."

"It can't be helped."

"Uh, my friend said she met someone who might be looking for you. You think you might know?" I wonder while bending down next to her. She stares at me quizzically as if trying to figure out my true intentions. Trust seems like the issue these Pokémon share, are the rest of them like this? "I don't know," she answers with a heavy sigh.

"I know you're-"

"Mia! You are here yes?" Risa voice is coming from outside but it sounds close. I get up and hurry out of the bathroom, shutting the door behind me. When I'm already on my way downstairs I hear Risa add, "We are on your balcony."

"My balcony?" I head into my bedroom and find Risa and a tall, lanky man outside the sliding doors. Confused, I unlock the sliding doors and open them up. "How did you guys get on the balcony?"

"He flew us here, believe it or not. Where is the person in blue?" she gets straight to the point while the man scowls at me. I try not to stare at the circular pattern along his face and exposed legs while he growls. "She's in the bathroom."

"Take me to her right away," commands the surly man in green. I lead them to the bathroom, knocking on the door before saying, "They are some people coming in, one of them might know you." I open the door and the marked man pushes past me instantly. He sighs deeply and the silver-haired girl widens her bright eyes.

"Kyogre I'm glad to see you here and I'm a little surprised," he bends down next to the tub but keeps his hands at his side. It isn't the touching reunion that I had in mind but they both seem pleased by each other's company. "Where's Groudon?"

"Is she here too? I haven't seen her," she looks at her reflection. "I was brought here by that little girl after it happened. I would've died if she didn't bring me in and take care of me." The slender man pats her head considerately and faces me with a less frightening facial expression. "You."

"Yes?"

"Thank you for taking care of her," he says gratefully. There's loud knocking on the door downstairs, probably Mizuki and the children she was talking about. "You guys can stay in here, Risa and I will go see who it is," I assure them and Risa and I leave them to talk privately among themselves. "Well, we're in for some day huh?"

"Yes it seems we are. I never got to apologize for what I said to you on Angel Island," says Risa regretfully. "I am sorry about what I said, I did not mean it. I was angry and upset…I know you had nothing to do with Seth getting involved with Clancy."

"It's okay Risa, as long as you're feeling better," I reply, putting my hand her shoulder and then embracing her. "I'm sorry that it happened."

"Me too."

"Mia, open this door already!" Mizuki demands from downstairs. We release each other and go downstairs to open the door. There is Mizuki and the three children, one with bright red hair, another with a cone-shaped hairstyle, and then Uxie. "Everyone's all reunited?"

"Yeah, for the moment," I answer optimistically, "Everyone's in the bathroom." The children hurry in with a tittering mood while Mizuki agitatedly sighs. "What's the matter?"

"Those kids are _seriously not normal_."

J.G.P.


	5. Façades that Crumbled

I thought Uxie was a shy, harmless victim of wicked forces but he's hardly that! He made me believe he was an innocent child and so did his brother and sister, who hardly look like him. It's nerve-wracking to be in the presence of something that's pretending to be human. I wonder what he and his siblings think of us, from my first encounter with them I doubt they think good things. As we speed walk in the summer's heat, I feel him staring at me even though his eyes are closed. That's silly, he can't actually see me. "Do I intimidate you?" he reads my mind.

"I'm just thinking about all the stuff you were talking about," I lie but I have this feeling he knows I'm full of shit.

"You assumed that my siblings and I were homeless orphans. It's the logical assumption that a human would have," he goes off talking to himself now, "This is the appropriate form we took, we are anything but children. I hope the others are adjusting to their human forms as hastily as we have."

"Right," I mutter. Finally we reach the alleyway, stepping over sleeping hobos to find the two other "kids" waiting for us. They spring to their feet and excitedly squeeze each other; it's hard picturing them as creatures from another world. I mean they're acting like little kids who haven't seen each other in years and yet _they're not kids_. "I'm so glad you're all safe," says Uxie in the middle of their embrace.

"I couldn't connect with you no matter how hard I tried," exclaims the magenta-haired child. They separate while beaming at each other joyfully. Then Uxie informs them that he's told me and my friends about the situation at hand. "We're meeting up with Pokémon from another region?" she asks cheerily. Judging by the empty brown bags next to her she and her brother ate well.

"Yes, she will escort us," Uxie gestures to me.

"Thank you very much," the blue-haired one says to me kindly. The redhead whispers something her brothers and they faintly smile. I eye the three of them suspiciously. "Well in order to bring us all there," she states teasingly and then suddenly takes off. "You have to catch me first!" I stand there in confusion as she leaves the alley, kicking up trash with every step. "What the hell?"

"She likes playing, you should really catch her before she hurts herself," suggests the former bagel thief. Reluctantly, I sprint out of the alley and catch a glimpse of the magenta-haired kid running in the middle of the street. Do I really have the time to entertain children who aren't actually children? The answer is no! "Hey, you're gonna get yourself killed!" While avoiding traffic as best as I can, I speed down the boulevard, pushing past people to grab the young girl. She runs slower than her thieving brother but I'm still not cut out for this running shit, especially in this sweltering heat. "Oof!" I crash into a man, tumbling to my feet. "My bad, my bad."

"Look where you're going!" the man berates, picking up all his papers that I scattered everywhere. I would help but I've got a nonhuman problem with pink hair to deal with. I need all three of those brats to take to Mia's house and one decides to dip out on me. I guess I have to cheat again the same way I did with her brother. But how do I find her with all these people here? "I got it," I whisper confidently to myself as I turn a corner. With all my mental focus concentrated on my surroundings, the flow of motion freezes completely and with the Byakugan eyes opened, I can see through everyone. I should probably look for the one with the strangest looking chakra flow. Jogging through the frozen people in the direction she ran off to, I scope the next block. So I let her wander far from here, let's see how far she made it. I zoom in on neighboring streets, expanding my view until finally I spot someone with a cyan chakra flow. "That's probably her." As I rush to where she is, I pant and sweat profusely while time starts up again. "Ugh...no, I need to keep everything still." God, if I was a faster runner, then I wouldn't be going through this. Finally I catch up to her as she's taking off, still slowed by my control of time. I grab her shoulder and time returns to its normal pace. She is flustered having been caught and falls to the pavement. "Got you!" I exclaim triumphantly. "Now let's head back, shall we?"

"There's more to you than it seems Mizuki," says Pinkie pensively as she gets to her feet. "How were you able to catch me?"

"H-how did you know my name?"

"Let's go Mizuki."

All four of us are now on the road going towards Mia's house. Trying to keep silent in the midst of their chatter is hard, they all seem really excited about seeing the other Pokémon. I can't believe none of them are really human, but it shouldn't be that hard to understand. I guess what I really have a hard time grasping is why did they change into humans? Uxie claimed it was for "easier communication" but something tells me that's not the whole truth. Maybe I'm overthinking it, this world is largely made up of humans so they just blended into their surroundings, right? "You never told us your name," the one with the yellow Angry Bird hairstyle says to me, pulling me out of my thoughts.

"Your sister already knows it so why don't you?" I grumble to their amusement.

"Have you realized we share a connection with each other?" inquires Uxie.

"You're the only one who would know my name but your sister knew it too," I deduce. "So yeah."

"Very astute."

"You still haven't introduced yourself," Azurehead pipes up. "It won't be a surprise but that doesn't mean I don't want to hear you say it yourself."

"Mizuki."

"The full name."

"Mizuki Evelyn Ayano."

"Do you fear us Mizuki?" wonders Pinkie. Before I can answer her Uxie interrupts arrogantly.

"Mizuki means 'moon' in some ancient languages. Evelyn is derived from 'Aveline' which is from the name 'Avila' which roughly translates into 'desired'," informs Uxie to his siblings. "The _aya_ in 'Ayano' means 'color' or 'design'." Why does he dissect my name like it's no big deal? Are all Pokémon geniuses like him? "I think she is having a hard time comprehending the possibility of us."

"It's not that," I finally get a sentence in. "Why pretend to be humans?"

"Why not?" counters Uxie. "It's the best way to keep under the radar. Does that answer your question?"

"Pink and blue hair don't go under the radar," I argue but then dismiss it, "people would just think you're cosplayers." I shrug coolly, staying under the shade of the trees. The redhead chuckles quietly as she clasps her hands behind her back.

"She has us halfway figured out. Don't you think humans hold the most mysterious powers Mizuki? The heart of humans are endless enigmas carrying all sorts of feelings. They are the driving force behind a human's willpower and carry vast amounts of knowledge that they treasure forever," the redhead rambles on, "Yes taking on a different form was a possibility for us but my siblings and I are curious to see how all of us will handle the blessing and the burden of the human heart. Does that answer your question?"

"I guess." I never thought about my heart as being anything that she just described. What a strange little girl, ugh they're all so strange! "I think we can tell you our names," the magenta-haired girl says politely. "I'm Mesprit."

"I'm Azelf," Azurehead waves his hand.

"Those are some pretty odd names," I snort. "So are you two as smart as this one over here?"

"No, each of us has our own specialty," replies Azelf. "I am the Pokémon of willpower and blessed the living creatures of my world with my power. It's because of that, I got myself and Mesprit of that strange place when we came here. I smashed a window with my bare hands and escaped with my sister even though I was exhausted." A broken window huh? Could that explain the weird break in this morning? "What about you Pinkie? The Pokémon of hearts or something?"

"Close, I am the Pokémon of emotions, that's self-explanatory by now. Your heart is trying to call out to somebody Mizuki," says Mesprit, no longer smiling. "You yearn for the two people you can't find."

"How-did you-?" I utter, shocked beyond belief. How could she have known that? She isn't-no, none of them are ordinary beings, that's for sure. Mesprit smiles mischievously and suddenly takes off. "Hey wait!"

"She won't run away again, she knows where your friend's house is," assures Uxie. "Judging by how you easily believed me in Erick's office, you have been taken from your world?" he asks seriously, gazing at me intently with his eyes closed.

"Yeah, me and my friends...but it's different from your situation. We lost our worlds to Darkness so I don't think there's any way of getting back home," I sadly reply. "But you guys should be okay, if you were just taken then getting home won't be so hard."

"You're wrong. Your worlds haven't been lost, they've been _stolen_," he corrects me. "They are rotting away in Darkness."

"What? How do you know something like that?" I drop my easygoing tone and sound harsher than I wanted to. Ironically he doesn't look bothered by the change in my tone. "I am the Pokémon of wisdom. When I entered this world I learned everything about it, including the knowledge of your worlds," he states, turning as we go down the path to Mia's house. As he said, Mesprit is already down there smelling the flowers and touching everything in sight. Azelf runs off and does the same. "I am aware of things outside this world. I've seen the monsters you call the Heartless grow in large numbers and devour the hearts of worlds. It seems the worlds aren't what they used to be."

"You're telling me," I sarcastically reply. "So did you already know my name?"

"Yes, and Mia's, Risa's, and Erick's." We reach Mia's door and I knock on it a few times before waiting. "But I don't think you care about that. I'm quite aware that you aren't as ordinary as you appear to be."

"Excuse y-!"

"Somehow you have been given the power to manipulate time around you," he continues as if uninterrupted. I'm totally embarrassed that this kid was able to figure it out in a matter of minutes while it took me months. I bang on the door again. "Mia, open this door already!"

"Mizuki's _really_ embarrassed," points out Mesprit, tugging my hand playfully. The fact that she pointed it out humiliates me further. The children laugh at me and then finally Mia, with Risa next to her, opens the door for us. Uxie speaks before anyone can, "Everyone's all reunited?"

"Yeah, for the moment. Everyone's in the bathroom." The kids scurry inside, already knowing where the bathroom is and Mia takes one good look of my face. "What's the matter?"

"Those kids are seriously not normal," I mope as I step inside. "It makes complete sense that they're not actually human."

"We should join them," Risa suggests and we all oblige. Once we're upstairs cramped in bathroom, it seems like me, Risa, and Mia are the ones out-of-place. The three children are getting acquainted with the burnt umber man donned in lime green sultan pants and a matching vest that exposes his frail chest and the well-dressed girl with bright crimson markings around her lips and eyes. "So none of you know each other?" I wonder aloud.

"No, we are from separate regions," answers Uxie. "But it's important that every one of us is here."

"It's more than us right?" the lanky man with lemon circles on his face assumes. Uxie nods like he knows everything, well 'cause he does. "How many?"

"Seven more."

"We know where they are," Mesprit points out, surprising Lanky and Bathtub Girl. "My brothers and I searched for them when we regained some of our powers."

"Hey, this is news to me. When did that happen?" I raise my hand fervently. Azelf grins snootily and the rest of the Pokémon take notice of me in the room. The air of superiority is thick in here. Are we like ants to them? "While you were chasing Mesprit, we projected our souls from our bodies and located them," says Azelf, chuckling at my flabbergasted expression. "She ran to look for our missing kin and to give us a brief view of our new environment."

"So why did you have me catch her?"

"I wanted to see what you could do," claims Mesprit in a jolly tone. However, the sienna man with a stick-figure figure isn't in a pleasant mood and I can feel his impatience reaching its pinnacle. "Anyway, we can gather them here if we split up with these girls. They have the best idea of where each Pokémon is."

"Where are they?" Lanky demands.

"I think it's best we attend to the red one first. She seems to be in a predicament," Uxie says. Only Lanky is perturbed by this as the rest of us have no idea who the "red one" is. "She is a large park in the city, named Maple Park and she's causing a disturbance. I'll leave her to you." Lanky nods as he rushes out of the bathroom with Risa immediately following. "The three of us can split up and show you where the others are. I will travel with Mizuki."

"I'll go with Mia," Mesprit says, surprising her.

"How did you know my name? Did Mizuki-?"

"They know everything about everyone," I hastily answer.

"Then I will join the other two that are planning to go," Azelf says, heading for the door. Why does the one who bugs me the most have to pair up with me? I turn to Mia after taking in a deep breath, "Alright, let's do this."

"Yeah."

J.G.P.


	6. Human Incapability

When I reach the island I do not see the man who fell from the sky anywhere. Knuckles is under the roof of the altar, staring up at the clouds. Is he seriously daydreaming after I told him to make sure that man did not leave the island? Boys cannot follow the simplest of directions. He sees me before I can reach him and waves nonchalantly. "Yo, you might wanna check this out."

"I thought I told you to keep your eye on that man," I begin to scold him but Knuckles waves his hand in my face brusquely.

"He's still here but he-just look up before you start yellin' at me." I follow his finger up and deep within the clouds I see the man flying around, picking up invisible things with his hands and devouring them hungrily. "He's been doing that for a while. He keeps asking about some Pokéman thing or whatever." Briefly I explain to Knuckles what I found out from that child and he whistles at the end of my explanation. "That's some story. That kinda explains why he was askin' weird stuff about you."

"What kind of stuff?" I look up to the flying man in awe. I should have known the moment his feet left the ground that he was not a normal human.

"I don't know, if you're keeping me on this island and if I trusted you. I told him that you're definitely someone to trust and that you wouldn't hurt a fly," he roars with laughter. I jab him in the shoulder, hoping he is kidding with me. "Seriously."

"I said he had nothing to worry about 'cuz you're on his side, that's it," affirms Knuckles, leaning back leisurely.

"Hey you up there! I think I know where one of your companions are," I signal him with a wave. He comes down face-first but then slows his descent by straightening his posture and landing softly on the ground. His strength has clearly returned, he has more color in his face but his frown has remained the same. "My friend says she has someone in her home that is in blue and covered with markings."

"What about red?" he asks urgently, swallowing the last of his invisible food he got from the clouds.

"I am afraid she did not mention that person."

"As long as they're not together there isn't anything to worry about," he confirms with a relieved sigh. "I'll go see her for myself then."

"We both need to."

"It's none of your concern human, that's more than enough information to help me."

"One of your kin has made it my concern, Pokémon." At the mention of Pokémon he distrustfully glares at me. "He told me everything about what happened to you guys and I said I would help get you all together so I am to bring you to my friend's home." He pensively stares at the ground, putting this and that together in his head. Reluctantly, he gives me his back and bends his knees.

"Fine, bring me to where she is. Now that I'm back at my full strength I can fly us there." He bends his arm as if asking for a dance. I glance apprehensively at Knuckles who was listening in and he smirks encouragingly at me. "Come on, we don't have all day." Cautiously, I take his arm and he immediately shoots upward, bringing my hood down. If I hold his arm with one hand I will fall so the hood will have stay down for now. "Which direction?"

"South of here, keep going south until we are above the city," I wrap my hands around his branded arm. We zoom through clouds and fly over the vast sea while I dangle from his arm. When I see the city coming up, he flies up higher, and I can see it all-the buildings, the people, the cars, everything is magical at this height. Even the faraway sun glaring at us seems within reach from here. Clancy, you will not see this at the Village of Willow, that is for sure. He slows down, making me feel as heavy as a rock. "Which way?" he asks, holding me with two hands. As I pop my ears, I look around the minuscule city. Everything looks unreal up here, does nobody see us? A flock of pigeons fly in formation under my feet as I squirm to get a better view of Westopolis. "Just that way," I point east and he goes back to holding me with one hand as we speed off through the clouds. I try to grab a handful of a cloud but my fingers comb it as if I am running my fingers through the softest and silkiest strands of hair. My uncombed hair comes out from its tuck, it probably looks like spilled brown sauce in the cerulean sky. "You do not seem excited to see the sights of this world, I find that strange," I observe while looking up at his chin, causing my ears to pop.

"I'm always at this height, it's nothing new," he says loudly as we leave the city. "Nothing stands out here besides that island you live on."

"I do not really live there," I reply stolidly. "Like you, my world was taken from me and I ended up here." He hesitates for a second while maintaining a constant speed and asks, "A black hand took you?"

"No, my world fell to Darkness."

"Is that the house?" I realize that Mia's house is coming up, the enrapturing trip through the skies has come to an end.

"Yes but we cannot land on the roof," I dissuade him before he brings it up. He turns abruptly to the left and we eventually decrease in altitude. When he slows down, I no longer feel as light as a feather but as heavy as a willow tree. Upon seeing the balcony, he flies downward and then straightens his posture as we land gently on the balcony. I straighten my unkempt hair quickly, pull my hood over my face, and shout, "Mia! You are here yes?"

' ' '

"I will handle this situation on my own," the man in green says before I can offer help. "I appreciate what you have done but it's time for me to go off on my own."

"The little ones inside told us it is best for us to be working together. I am aware of your distrust but I need you to accept my help once more," I try convincing him as I follow him into Mia's bedroom. Being so close to the clouds and the sun was breathtaking, I do not want to lose that chance again. But that is not the only reason why I am badgering him. He stops and turns to me with a tense huff.

"There is no need for you to help anymore," he objects calmly but fiercely. Someone else walks into the bedroom and the man softens his earnest glare at the person. "She will be accompanying us," the little boy with blue hair lighter than Mia's says, his gleaming eyes wide as he stares at the thin adult. "She knows how to navigate through the city better than us. Therefore, she has to come with us. Also, I doubt Risa is the kind of person who will let you do what you want as an outsider, am I right?" Not surprised this Pokémon knows my name, I nod at him. "To Maple Park then? Any protests, Rayquaza?"

"None," he mutters unwillingly, opening the sliding doors and bending his knees again. "Having humans getting involved looking for Pokémon never ends well for us." I disregard his statement and cling to his left arm while the child takes the right one. We take off slower than before because of the added weight and my ears pop again.

"We have to go into the city, so back the way you went and then I will give you new directions from there," I tell him. Flying there is a little more terrifying since we are going at a gradual pace. But if that child has no fear then I should not either. In seconds we are above the city again and I tell him which way to go. I am not sure what time it is but the sun is higher in the sky than before. "What happens once everyone is gathered?" I ask the child with the big eyes.

"We will figure something out. Our worlds will be unstable with us, we have to return as soon as possible," he states nonchalantly. "What will you do Risa?"

"Whatever I can," I answer and I look down, recognizing the park below us. "It is right down here." Rayquaza takes us down quickly, he must have grown tired from the weight he had to carry. For a thin Pokémon he is quite strong, being able to fly us around for a long time. I wonder-if I master every aspect of nature, could I fly like he does? That would be wonderful.

The people below are too busy fleeing from something to pay much attention to us. The child jumps down and hurries in the opposite direction of the crowd. I let go of Rayquaza's arm, rolling on the grass and snatch someone's shoulder. "What is going on here?" I demand.

"There is some crazy girl freaking out!" a woman frantically explains. I let her go and charge in after the little boy. Like Rayquaza was earlier, she is probably frightened and confused. There are fewer people the further I run and then I see that child come to a halt, facing the person making a ruckus. I join the child's side, finally seeing the citizens' antagonist: A copper-skinned woman, with stubby hair as dark as the soil, holds a bench over her head while snarling at us. "Stay away from me!"

"Groudon listen to me. I am a fellow Pokémon like you," the child raises his hands. "No one is going to hurt you here."

"I don't know you, I've never seen you before-that is a human, keep back!" she tosses the bench as if it weighed nothing. I grab the kid and give the Pokémon-human my back. I turn around to see Rayquaza descending in front of us and the bench split in two halves. "Groudon that is enough," he shouts firmly. "You do recognize me don't you?" Groudon drops her hands, black lines tracing up to her broad and muscular shoulders, and gets on her knees.

"Rayquaza? That is truly you!" she realizes with jubilee. "I thought I was the only one who had to suffer this fate. What happened to us, what's going on?" I release the child, who does not utter a word of gratitude, and he goes next to Rayquaza. "But who's that little kid?"

"I am Azelf, a Pokémon such as yourself but from another region. That's why you don't know me."

"And her?"

"She is a human who is helping us gather everyone that ended up here. We need your cooperation Groudon." I wince at the term "human" but the others do not notice.

"There were humans who squirted me with water! How do I know she won't do the same," protests the young Pokémon-adult with raven rings around her eyes.

"She'll resist the urge. You have your trio now Rayquaza, bring Groudon back to Mia's house. Risa and I have to find one more person on our own." Rayquaza nods, looking back at the muscular woman. "He will explain everything to you. Risa, let us hurry." I nod to Azelf, leaving the other two in the park. "I knew Rayquaza was going to protect me but thank you for shielding me."

"Why disguise yourselves as things you hate?" I inquire, stepping over the craters and avoiding the smashed up water guns. How strong are these Pokémon? He looks up at the afternoon sun and I go on, "Do you place a pedestal over us? I can clearly see that Pokémon are powerful things."

"We are and you are right. We are practically deities in our regions and that is why it's important for us to return to our respective worlds. I do not hate humans Risa but do you agree that human avarice stems from their feeling of incapability?" he asks profoundly. "Even now you are plagued with feelings of incapability although you're trying to suppress them. The will to eradicate the powerlessness all you humans have is what supplies the Darkness with its power. That Darkness thus possess the heart and leads humans to cause suffering for others."

"That does not make sense," I refute while thinking about my struggle to defeat Sia and the stigma on my left shoulder. "It would inspire humans, us. And I do not feel incapable."

"Some humans manage to move past the difficulties that plague their lives. But others obsess over them and submerge themselves in Darkness, thinking it's the only solution. Does that answer your question Risa Willow-Greenhorn?"

"No."

' ' '

Leaning against a fire hydrant is a man wearing a light fuchsia shirt and royal purple blazer with pearls on his sleeves and down his pants. He seems to be Rayquaza's age, has a sharp chin, and two silver crescents of hair framing his milky face. Seeing Azelf, his dark crimson eyes light up but he remains calm. "So you survived, that's good Azelf."

"So have many others, I'm sure you understand this better than most of us," says Azelf.

"I assume this human is with you?" the pale man examines me gingerly but briefly.

"I am. We are gathering all of you at a set location where you should be safe," I speak for myself. I am getting tired of them referring to me as a human. "Can you trust her?" he asks Azelf, who simply smiles as he helps the man up to his feet. "Actions speak louder than words. I know I can trust her," answers Azelf vaguely.

"We should get going, I have some idea of what took us from our different planes of space," he says urgently.

"We are only getting two?" I ask the young child curiously.

"The others should be with your friends by now."

J.G.P.


	7. The Dark Void Called Lonliness

The pink-haired child and I sprint out of the house. Letting the young girl lead me into the shrubbery, I follow close behind. It's so hard to see her as something other than a human child, she will always look like this to me. "Over there, past this field," says the little girl, pointing in the general direction. As we dash through the grassy field, something similar to a nostalgic feeling fills my chest. When I came to this world I woke up here in this empty place. I was scared and all I could do was cry out for Seth._Seth? Where are you? Seth! Seth! Can you hear me? Seth!_

_Seth!_

I ran and wouldn't stop screaming for him as the rain poured down on me. But little did I know he was watching me from the Darkness, safe and dry. I think part of me knew there was nobody out there but me, so why did I run? Because I was scared? Yes, I was scared but that's not why I scrambled to my feet and fled. Maybe...it was to escape the loneliness. Seth made me feel whole and complete, he was my way out of the void called "loneliness". When I woke up and he wasn't with me, I guess I couldn't afford to return back to that gloomy void-it's irrelevant now. "There's a lot of sadness coming from you Mia," states the bright redhead matter-of-factly.

"This place holds some feelings for me," I admit while wondering how she could pick up on that. "Hey, I never got your name!"

"Mesprit, that's what I'm called. I can read the feelings in people's hearts," she turns to me, trotting backwards as her wild hair sways in the breeze. "Reading yours makes me sad."

"Why?" This must be what Mizuki meant by "these kids aren't normal". She brusquely frowns and faces the woodland area up ahead. "Stop, he'll attack us," she extends her hand out, blocking me from continuing. All I see are the trees and the shadows of the trees casted by the boiling sun. "I can feel your fear and confusion but you have to come with us you two."

"Two?" I can't even see one. Oh wait, to my right, something is hiding in the shade. Dark scarlet eyes glare at me, keeping me paralyzed in place. It's not the same feeling I'm getting when I'm around Heartless but it's something similar. "I can't-I can't move," I stammer in a soft tone.

"Giratina calm down, you recognize me don't you? Break your glare on Mia, she means no harm," reassures Mesprit, stepping closer to the red eyes in the trees. "If you use too much of your power, those hands might sense it and come after us."

"Why did this happen?" someone demands in the umbrage. Whatever is constricting me releases my body and I deeply sigh. "I shouldn't be here, I need to return to my world. It will fall apart without me." His deep crimson eyes gaze at Mesprit now. There's something else hiding here, I can feel it in this shade somewhere. I move under the cool umbrage while wiping sweat from the back of my neck.

"Is there someone else here? You can come out, there's no need to be afraid. I am helping you guys," I reassure whoever is here. "Your friends are waiting at my house right about now-hmm, is that you?" I spot something pale hiding behind a tree. The person's crystal blue eyes watch my every move. "I'm not trying to hurt you, trust me." What does it take for these Pokémon to trust us? Did humans do horrible things to them in their world? The hidden man quickly disappears like a ghost. I leave the shade of the trees to look for him and catch a glimpse of a moving shadow taking off in the opposite direction from me. I guess I should leave it alone.

Mesprit is still trying to convince the other Pokémon Giratina to join us but he's adamantly against it. I stand by her and figure I should try talking to him since Mesprit's attempts are failing. "Umm, can I just say that there are Pokémon back at my house who I'm sure you'll be comfortable with," I suggest anxiously as he stares at me. He scoffs and gives me his back. "I know how you're feeling, I've been in your position-"

"How can you humans understand?" he asks with a mix of surprise and scorn in his tone. Mesprit watches us curiously, not saying a word.

"Uh well, my world has been taken from me too and it's very likely that you can make it back soon if you work with us. You have to trust us, at least trust Mesprit," I end my plea with a tired sigh, all while maintaining eye contact with the intimidating person. He steps toward me suddenly and I back away warily while anticipating his next move. "Giratina there's no need to frighten her," discourages Mesprit in a vexed tone.

"Um, what're you-?" I stumble out of the bushes and he's exposed in the sunlight. The man who looks like he's in his early twenties suddenly vanishes. A chilly breeze passes through me and brings me to my knees. "Agh, oh…"

"You're the keeper of balance?" he asks from behind. I face him while wincing and his brawny stature is bigger than when I was standing. _"Nonsense."_ When I get to my feet, he stomps towards the same direction the shadow went and Mesprit joins my side. "He's so unreasonable, don't mind him. And as for the other one, he's going to your house with Giratina. You piqued their interests you know."

"What? Why?" I scratch the back of my oily head. Mesprit smiles without answering and skips along merrily back into the woodlands. After a couple of minutes pass she says, "Giratina used a move called Shadow Force on you but not at full power. He took a brief look inside your heart to judge you and I'm not sure why yet but you got his attention," admits Mesprit. "The one you spoke to first is a Pokémon that prefers to keep itself away from others. Its Darkness is strong enough to bring humans and Pokémon to the realm of nightmares. Both of them have limited contact with us even though we're technically in the same region." Then she adds with an overwhelmed sigh, "It's hard communicating with them, it was better that you did even though they were both a little startled."

"I find it hard to believe that _they_ were startled," I mumble while rubbing my arms. Shadow Force has me shivering as we navigate through the bushy environment. "At least Ky-Kai…"

"Kyogre. You were going to say she didn't feel threatened by your presence. I can sense her easiness around you, you must be growing on her," she states cheerily and then softens her voice, "You have an overwhelming amount of sadness, maybe that's what Giratina saw." I blush while I push through the bushes, keeping my mouth shut. "Sorry, I forget humans have a hard time accepting their true feelings. Here he is." I decide to hang back while trying to find a comfortable spot where the shrubby won't prick my legs. "Can you hear me? Dialga, you need to wake up." I wish that there was someone to wake me up when I first landed here, these Pokémon are lucky to have each other-they're never alone. "Are you okay?"

The man in the bushes sits up while grimacing, his eyes dancing around before focusing on Mesprit. He's got twigs and leaves in his pale turquoise hair and dry soil on his midnight blue and cyan blazer and slacks. "Mesprit, you're human as well," his voice is raspy. He seems to be as old the skinny man Risa was with. "I thought I was the only one. If you're here, then other two are-?" Mesprit nods. "What about Palkia and Giratina?" again, she nods, pulling something out of her pocket. "Just us?"

"Many more, a few from the Hoenn region. We are gathering a few more missing Pokémon and then we'll figure out what's going to happen." Dialga accepts the half bagel, sniffs it, then shoves the entire thing in his mouth. He licks the butter off his lips and then peeks behind her. "'We'? You're including the human behind you?"

"She and her friends have offered to help bring us together."

"If that's the case, I should be thankful," he brings himself to his feet, his bones cracking like an elderly's man despite his young features. Despite the gratitude in his tone, he examines me coldly and folds his arms. "I'm unsure as to why you're helping us but thank you."

"You're welcome." With a little support from Mesprit they head to the direction of my house. These guys make me feel like I'm back at home, where everyone hated me.

' ' '

When we get back to the house, there is a woman whom I don't recognize sitting on the couch. She glances at me and then bashfully turns away. The Pokémon Giratina stretches his hand out to the TV as if waiting for something to happen. He is one of the boldly dressed ones in the room with his deep red and black tank ensnared by golden claws and ankle rings that fasten his puffy soot pants; Dialga is just as flashy though. "Hello Mesprit," greets the angelic woman on the couch.

"We finally could reach you," she replies warmly, hurrying over to her side and holding her hands. The other Pokémon named Dialga stays by the door with me, gazing at Giratina with abhorrence. Why though, aren't they friends? "It took a while to regain my energy in this human form."

"It was hard to get used to this frail form but once I was supplied with food, I felt stronger," the pretty woman says. I'm starting to get tired of hearing about humans and mortals, we're insects compared to these Pokémon. "I'm heading outside for some fresh air, I'm a little tired," I walk outside and there comes Risa, the blue-haired child, and an adult in a dark violet outfit. I wave politely while letting them inside. Risa stops to ask, "What is the matter?"

"I just need some air that's all." She nods understandingly as she steps inside. I close the door and exhale deeply while sinking to my knees.

"Hey Mia, are you okay?" Mizuki's loud voice comes from down the path. I hear her hasty footsteps and she bends down to my level. "What's up with you?"

"I just need to relax."

"Come on, you really don't look good."

"Are the rest inside?" asks Uxie stolidly. I force myself up and open the door for him, Mizuki being the last one to step inside. Following that is some heated commotion but I'm honestly too winded to investigate. Whatever is happening in there, I know Mizuki and Risa will calm everyone down. "I've never been called a human so many times in a day," I mumble to myself. "Makes me feel so weak." Have I really changed or is what Mesprit said true? I thought after everything that happened I was a happier and stronger person but what if it is an illusion? What if I'm still the same useless Mia who still misses Seth, the same Mia trapped in the void called "loneliness"?

The Seth that I found in the colorless abyss told me to stop being sad but it's easier said than done. I failed...I lost him to the Darkness forever, and then I got Don caught up in the mix. How can I happy with myself if I haven't changed? "What is wrong with me?" I ponder out loud, getting to my feet and pacing forward. "Of course I've changed, I've made friends and gotten stronger. Or am I being naïve?" I get the feeling I'm being watched so I turn and look towards the balcony. Something black catches my eye. I shield my eyes as I gaze at the roof and spot a person in a tattered cloak reposing on the top. "S-sorry for disturbing you!"

"Who's that you're talking to?" I flinch, slowly turning to see Don coming down the path. It's like a breath of fresh air to see him after all this stuff with the Pokémon has happened. At the same time, it's an inconvenient breath of fresh air. "You're aware of the man on your roof?"

"W-what're you doing here?" I wonder, completely frazzled. There's something different about him besides his cold tone. Being so close with him, I can tell when he's upset and pretending to be himself-like he's doing now. "Don't I usually visit you? And why is there a man on your roof?" he badgers, stepping closer to me intimidatingly. I back away, unable to come up with a good enough lie. Why can't I lie like everyone else? My back hits the front door. "Does it have something to do with Seth? Is that him on the roof or he is really inside?"

"No, Seth's nowhere. I was just…thinking. Are you alright?" I ask worriedly.

"Yeah, fine. Let's go inside."

"Aaah, you really can't come in right now." A loud thud and some yelling ensues that makes both of us tense up. The Pokémon-who are already wary of our motives-are going to get more distrustful with Don here. I'm sure Mesprit and her brothers know we don't mean them ill-content but I can't say the same for the others. "Can you come back tomorrow?"

"What the hell was that? Who else is in there?"

"Mizuki, Risa…"

"That didn't sound like them. What's going on?"

"Don can you please come back tomorrow? There are some people over-"

"Are you being threatened?"

"No, not at all, don't be silly-"

"Don't lie to me!" bellows Don, slamming his fist against the door. I wince as his piercing glare makes me want to cower down. "What're you hiding?"

"Don, calm down please!" I beg frantically. His hand slumps down and his creased face returns to a disheartened one as he puts his hand on his temple. "I'm sorry Mia, I really am," Don backs away in horror. "I can't stop thinking about-" The black cloak from before drops on top of Don. With his quick reflexes, he skips back and then lunges at the man in the cloak with his bare fists. Behind me, the door bursts open and a whole bunch of people pour out in front of me.

"Are you alright?" Risa asks worriedly as she and Mizuki join my sides.

"What's up with Don?" Mizuki demands, gripping my shoulders. The human Pokémon all watch the battle scene ensue while I scramble to reach Don. I get out of Mizuki's grasp, pushing past everyone. "Stop it!" I jump in the middle of the brawl while Don tries punching the human Pokémon. While I hold his arm, he unintentionally jabs me in the face as he leans back to throw a punch and I nearly tip over. But I reel forward while Don quickly leaps over the black cloaked man. A dark sphere the size of a baseball hits me and explodes; darkness wraps around me and brings me to the ground. "Stop fighting," I mutter as I attempt to sit up, slightly surprised the pain from that blow subsided quickly. Some invisible force shoves me down and two black Keyblades are plunged into my palms, making me wail louder than a dying whale. Seth steps next to me and brandishes his Keyblade at the air before pointing it at me. "_What're you doing here?_ What did you do with everyone?" I cry out.

He looms behind me, lifting the key-shaped blade over his head and then plunges it in my chest. I kick and scream until I feel my throat run dry, then the ground disappears beneath me. I'm falling into a bottomless chasm full of despair and loneliness-how fitting for me. Seth grins at me, waving with two of his fingers as he watches me plunge to my death. Tears well up in my eyes as I impatiently wait for death, knowing this time Don isn't here to catch me. I shut my eyes while trying to get rid of the falling sensation and that's when I see the man with skin dark as coal slowly approaching me. "Come here niece of mine, tsk."

Even after all I've went through, the same fears plague my mind. I truly am pathetic.

J.G.P.


	8. Goddamn Hubris

"Wait Mizuki," Uxie puts his hand on my arm. Why are we the only team not moving, Risa and Mia already left! Who'd a thunk that giving some food to some kids would lead me into this mess? "Fortunately for us, we don't have to go anywhere."

"Say what now?"

"I made a mental connection with two Pokémon who received my message and are on their way by themselves. Those should be the last two, now all we have to do is see them in. Come," he tugs me along the path to the main road. "This world's flowers are beautiful. I didn't see much beauty in the city but here the ambiance is beautiful." We're out on the main road and he invites me to sit down next to him. "Umm, what're we doing right now?" I ask. He reaches over to pluck a teal flower and he twirls it slowly. I clear my throat and stutter when I ask the awkward question, "Were you born blind or did something happen?"

"I'm not blind, I choose to keep my eyes closed. I can see everything, the dark marks on your left cheek, the shrubbery, this teal lilac. These eyes can see as well as your other ones," he says with a light chuckle. I put my hand in front of him, putting up four fingers. "Four, one, three, four, none, four again, five. You don't need your eyes to see everything Mizuki and I do mean your other eyes as well."

"My other eyes?" Is he talking about my white eyes I got from Hinata? No, I didn't use them when I was with him so how would he know? He can't know _everything_. "What other eyes?"

"The Byakugan eyes that you used to catch Azelf and Mespirit with. They allow you to see within a 360 degree range but it has a blind spot on the back of your neck, located above the third thoracic vertebra. You can see the chakra flow of a person and strike internal blows to the organ system by hitting the white nodes where the clumps of chakra meet," he goes on like one of my high school teachers, "therefore brute strength isn't needed to hurt the enemy, which is why you rely on the Gentle Fist style. But it's going to severely damage your normal eyesight not only because you don't have the bloodline to inherit the all-seeing eyes, but because every time you're using that your normal eyesight is fading. How did you manage to obtain those eyes?"

God damn this kid _does_ know everything, but I didn't know the Byakugan was putting a strain on my eyes. I mean one time it was really bad and Hinata somehow came here and helped me but I haven't had any eye problems since then. So there's no point in playing dumb; I briefly tell him about my mom's pregnancy and what she did. Still captivated by the flower, he lifts it up while smiling a bit. "I see. What was your world like Mizuki? You must miss it yes?"

"I do sometimes," I let my legs straighten out in front of me. "But then I remember that where I was wasn't my real home either. There was another place where I came from which I really miss-me and my family used to live there eleven years ago. We moved 'cuz my mom and brother were taken away and my dad thought it was best to move on. It's them I miss the most," I conclude forlornly. Once I started I just couldn't stop, now I look like some mopey idiot. "Sorry I kinda sprung that on you."

"Try not to rely on the Byakugan too much."

"What? I just told you my life story and that's how you answer?" I snap. He giggles, now smelling the flower. "Forget I said anything."

"Relying on power that isn't yours will only take you so far."

"Well I don't-!"

He suddenly turns around as something rustles in the bushes. I turn too and see a shadow rise from the ground and form a person in a dark cloak taking off towards Mia's place. "Should I be worried?"

"No, he is a very isolated Pokémon, humans and Pokémon succumb to sleep around him so it's best for him to keep away from you, Risa, and Mia. Darkrai is still uncertain of you and your friends," he explains while glancing down the street.

"Are we humans really that bad?"

"Based on experience, yes. Humans have abused our power since the beginning of time. A handful of people have saved us from oblivion but the Darkness in people's hearts proves time after time, humans see us as tools for destruction. Don't hold it against us Mizuki, weren't you afraid when you came to this world too?" his earnest tone subsides and he's beginning to sound as reclusive as he was when I met him. "Or did you gallantly arrive here fearing nothing? All of us are terrified and none of us know how long it'll take to go back to our worlds or if we can go back." The poor kid is whimpering now, "Please don't hate our ignorance."

"Oh stop that," I grumble. "I don't hate anything about you guys, it's you guys that hate us." What did Pinkie say about them being human again?_...My siblings and I are curious to see how all of us will handle the blessing and the burden of the human heart._They obviously had hearts before they changed into humans but something about the human heart intrigues them, something not even Brainiac understands. The phrase "people hate what they don't understand" applies to Pokémon too. "I know you'll make it back to your worlds."

"How do you know?"

"Have some hope Brainiac."

"Hope, huh?" he scrutinizes the lilac and lowers his head. He repeats the word again with a weak smile, _"hope."_

"I was dangling off a boat one minute and then the next I was washed up against the beach in another world. That was really scary, I wanted to die," I confess with a nervous chuckle. "Even after finding a roof over my head I was terrified of everyone and everything. Then Erick explained everything and cleared stuff up. He's a really cool dude." I remember when he told me I could crash in his basement until my room was fixed up. "We can't all be that bad. You were comfortable around him right?"

"I cannot lie, he's a good man. Amiable and intelligent also," admits Uxie, finally putting down the flower. "He knew that I came from another world without me telling him. It's remarkable that in another universe there are people bestowed with knowledge. It sounds arrogant but our world was nothing until Azelf, Mespirit, and I were born. Knowledge was born when I flew, feelings were born when Mespirit flew, willpower was born when Azelf flew and without being born in this world, everyone here already has those things, it's funny."

"So why are you telling me all of this?" I get to the point as I push my sweaty bangs back. He's back to his normal, talkative self again. "It's good to know all that but why are you, who barely trusts me, telling me all this?"

"First of all, me and my siblings trust you, Mia, and Risa completely. Second, food for thought. You're still young but your mind is complex and can grasp things quickly," compliments Uxie, standing up. I stare at the gems at the extended endings of his blueish suit jacket and then push myself up. "Cresselia, welcome!" Coming down the road is a russet woman, appearing to be in her late twenties-I can't tell how old any of these Pokémon are-with silky light mauve hair in a high bun and wearing a periwinkle dress with light purple sashes on each side draping from the top, becoming lighter in color as it reaches her round hips. When she comes closer, I realize in her hands she is holding a child younger than the triplets.

"I was beginning to worry that my message wouldn't reach anyone. I can sense Darkrai nearby," says Cresselia as she gazes towards the house. "The crystal this one was found in dissolved but he's still asleep as you can see." The pasty seven-year old looks pretty cute with that oversized, white long-sleeved shirt and bright yellow pants. What's with the clown triangles under his eyes though? "Thank you for helping us Mizuki."

"How did you know my name?" Shrugging the passed out child on her shoulder, she doesn't smile nor frown. "Let me guess, you have some special powers that lets you connect with him."

"Uxie already told me about what's happened through telepathy. I'm glad you and your friends are opening your home to us," says Cresselia gratefully, her pretty purple eyes gleam as bright as stars. "I guess in this human form I can only use telepathy with you, your siblings and this little one. I need to go inside and wake him up. Can you believe that this Pokémon needs to hear a voice of purity to wake up?" Cresselia paces down the path, leaving me and Uxie alone again.

"You guys must be pretty powerful things," I admit and continue in a mocking tone, _"Even if you're in your human form_. What's so bad about being human for a little while? I've been doin' it all my life."

"Mizuki, what're you talking about?" Azelf suddenly appears behind me with Risa and some other adult next to them. "Being human?"

"Don't trouble yourself with Mizuki's drivel," I feel as though Uxie just pushed me into the dirt like a little worm. "Mia has just returned with Mespirit and the others."

"What others?" the adult man donned in violet demands. Uxie and Azelf exchange concerned glances. "Dialga and Giratina you mean." His calm demeanor quickly shifts to a furious one. Before he charges in, I block him.

"I'll bring you in, sheesh," I mutter as I walk everyone to the door. To my surprise Mia's slumped against the door dejectedly. I wonder what's up with her, she's probably not feeling good since Don hasn't dropped by yet. Risa, with Azelf and that other dude behind her, ask her something, Mia says something inaudible, and then they go inside. "Hey Mia, are you okay? What's up with you?" I ask. She reassures me she's only tired but I'm not dumb, she obviously bothered by something. "Come on, you really don't look good." Uxie asks about the others and lets us inside and chaos unravels instantly.

"_What did you do to us Giratina?!_" demands the dude decked in midnight blue. His sapphire in the center of his chest looks like its glowing. "Is this revenge from before? You evil...we still have a fight to finish."

"I didn't a damn thing to any of you! Palkia should know," the beefy one with golden claws hugging his tank top points to the one wearing more purple than Cresselia. Speaking of her, she has her head down doing something but I can't really tell what. "Why can't I return to my world? You must have caused this." The man in purple who Golden Claws called Palkia rushes at him and snatches his shirt. "I will destroy you for what you've done to us all," Palkia snarls.

The ripped woman with black marks on her skin lifts the couch with Cresselia and I notice a huge, white sleeve dangling off the side. "If she's here then I must finish her while she's in this puny form!" declares Beefy Red while marching towards the stairs in her cardinal, cropped tank top, which reveals her six-pack-and matching snug pants. Her heavy footsteps shake the first floor slightly as she takes her first step on the staircase. "This is not real," I utter in aghast while Risa's frozen, probably unsure if she should intervene in this "foreign affair".

"Enough of that," commands Lanky as he flies down from the top floor and tries calming Beefy Red. At the same time, the Bathtub Girl, soaked completely, cries out, "Destroying you will be simple!"

"Now is not the time for violence!" the three multi-colored hair siblings shout to other three gaudily dressed adults who are now pushing each other. I can't stand much more of this; I stroke my hair as I storm towards the adults and siblings. "There's no way in hell you're all gonna start a fight in here, that's not happening!" I warn while yelling over them.

"Human don't bother getting yourself involved," Golden Claws even dares to shove me back a little. That's _not_ what you wanna do when I'm ticked off. "There's no point in fighting each other when you're all in the same boat!"

"We're not in a boat-"

"It's an expression, idiot! Frankly you're all idiots!" That last comment makes his garnet eyes glow creepily and the other two bring their attention to me. "Shut up and listen to the little midgets 'cuz they're gonna enlighten all you morons in here."

"You dare speak to me like that? What gumption," he snorts, "From a puny human."

"Mizuki that's more than enough," Uxie stammers worriedly.

"This _'puny human'_," I repeat with derisive disgust, "at least understands you and your goddamn friends are in the same goddamn situation so that means you don't just start a goddamn brawl with them. And that goes for you two over there!" I gaze at Beefy Red and the woman who was in the bathtub two hours ago. Despite how restful and peaceful she was when we met up in the bathroom, she's more than ready to fight Beefy Red but is being held back by her dress by lanky Peter Pan. The reticence that follows keeps everyone frozen in place, it isn't until Risa steps next to me is it broken. "Can you put the couch down?" she asks in a hushed tone. One more eager push from Lanky makes Beefy Red sigh and she returns to couch to its proper place, causing a small tremor. "No need to scream," she mutters while crossing her muscular arms. Not counting the three children and the sleeping ones, the Pokémon gaze at me in vexation and aghast.

"Thank you Mizuki, it's hard to get these guys to hush," Azelf smiles up at me.

"Good job," praises Risa with two pats on my shoulder.

"I try," I say, accompanied with a sigh and a weak chuckle.

"Don't lie to me! What're you hiding?" Don's furious tone echoes throughout the house. Shit Don, this is not what we need right now, everyone's already uptight. He pounds against the door like a furious serial killer, successfully grabbing everyone's attention. "Darkrai's going to attack soon," Mespirit says urgently as she moves to the door.

"Finally," Golden Claws and everyone else rushes to the door with loud clamor. Only Cresselia and the pale kid stay on the couch undisturbed by the commotion. Risa and I exchange anxious glances, both of us worried about Mia, and follow everyone outside.

' ' '

"Mia talk to me, are you okay?" I sit Mia up and support her back while Risa shakes her forcefully. All the human Pokémon watch in a stunned silence. Risa presses her head to Mia's chest and sighs. "She's alive right?"

"Yes, but-"

"Mia!" Don rushes to Mia's side and cradles her in his arms. "What happened?!"

"She fell asleep," Risa replies tensely while standing up. "Which means she should be fine."

"She was hit with Dark Void," Uxie steps out of the group and bends down next to me to examine her. "It pulls people to a realm where their deepest fears are manifested. In other words, Darkrai forces nightmares upon them." The russet man-Pokémon called Darkrai takes a few steps back, his tattered red scarf fluttering in the summer breeze; I can't find a trace of guilt on his unreadable face. "That was quite reckless of you," comments Uxie apathetically.

"He started the fight when he came here," objects Darkrai, his arms folded. Don hands me Mia and storms toward the least showy Pokémon in the group. "I didn't mean for her to-"

Don swiftly seizes his scarf and knees Darkrai in the spleen. "Wake her up now," commands Don. Darkrai wants to sink to the ground but Don's grip doesn't let him. "I'll kill you right here if you don't."

"I cannot wake up a human. They are forever trapped in the realm of nightmares," he sputters. Do I detect some gloominess in his tone? Maybe he does feel guilty about hurting Mia.

"What?" Don and I exclaim as Darkrai's dropped to ground. Risa and I scream Mia's name into her ears but she doesn't flinch. "So no matter what she's not waking up?" I ask Darkrai, unable to suppress the excitement in my voice. Mia grimaces and shakes her head a little, her hands trembling terribly. "Mia, can you hear me?"

"Seth…no," she groans uncomfortably. I frantically look at Uxie, whose closed eyes stare at the door-tell me something that can help us, please.

"There's a-"

"Don get away from him," Risa orders as she tries to get in between Don and Darkrai. "We are trying to-"

"Can you humans still say you're here to help us?" Golden Claws suddenly asks. "One of you has made the first move, who's to say you won't all _rebel against us?_ You'd all have to be stupid to put any more trust in these humans."

"Oh come on, we don't really care about that right now," I protest but the human Pokémon murmur among each other in agreement.

"Who are they to hoard us legendary beasts who have shaped worlds and ruined them? Humans are all the same, once they taste power they fight for more of it."

"What're you saying?" I practically scream but none of them flinch. So the screaming method isn't gonna work this time. "We're just-trying to-!"

"I'm saying that the trust the others gave you has given you the idea you have control over us, _idiot_." I would get up and punch him but I don't wanna drop Mia. "I say they should prove their faithfulness to us in a fight."

"What?" Risa and I exchange uncomfortable glances.

"Like a Pokémon battle?" Palkia assumes interestingly.

"If they really want to help us, then they should prove it," says Golden Claws as he looks down on me, metaphorically and literally.

"Do we really have the time for a fight? We're supposed to be protecting you guys," I reply obstinately while Mia cringes in her sleep.

"I understand how you feel," Mespirit steps over to me. "Like my brother mentioned to you, the three of us have trusted you up to this point. But to the other Pokémon who are wary of your intentions, they don't feel it's right for you to keep us here."

"Also you may not know this but in our world we normally have fights with each other," Uxie adds on, "The humans commonly refer to them as Pokémon battles where people who train Pokémon pit them against each other in a match."

"That sounds cruel," Risa says, dropping her hands from Don's arms. "Do you fight to kill?"

"In most circumstances no," Azelf points out, "but as for some of these guys, their immense powers create stalemates with each other and they end up demolishing worlds. They still retain some their powers in human form but we put most of them in check."

"Humans like them want us gathered here to use us and they know they can since we're in this fragile form," Giratina boasts, egging everyone on but the triplets and Darkrai, maybe. "We should leave these distrustful humans if they cannot fight back."

"Is there no other way to prove our loyalty?" asks Risa desperately.

"I'm afraid not," Mespirit anxiously responds. "Their hubris clouds their emotions and only by fighting will they understand your feelings." Risa gestures to me and I lay the grimacing Mia on the ground. She brings me away from Don and the others. "What?"

"We have to fight them ourselves."

J.G.P.


	9. Pokemon Battle

"Are you crazy?" Mizuki shrieks. "Or on drugs? Which one is it?"

"That Pokémon is making sense to all the Pokémon we are trying to help," I argue while Don joins us. "And that one just told us there was no other way to prove ourselves."

"What're you suggesting?" Don interrupts our private conversation. "I'm not sure what's going on but are you saying we have to fight them?" I nod and Mizuki defiantly grumbles.

"You were listening when Azelf said their powers could destroy worlds I assume. If we let them roam, they are not only jeopardizing the natives of this world and themselves," I explain in a soft tone, "They would jeopardize the world. Mizuki you saw them make eye contact and they were at each other's throat. It is the only way." I walk back to Azelf and ask, "So if we fight the Pokémon and win, you will stay without disagreement?"

"That's right, what are you going to do?" he asks curiously, his big eyes going from Mia, to Mizuki, and finally me.

"We will duke it out," I announce to everyone there. The young redhead suggests a wider area close to Mia's house and we all agree to it. Me and Mizuki fill Don in on all the details while he carries the squirming Mia on his back; the three of us hang back from the pseudo-humans as we follow them to the empty field straight ahead. "…and now 'cause you had to be a jerk to Mia, they wanna fight us, good job Leather Jacket!" concludes Mizuki, so upset that her face is tomato. "What was your problem?"

"It's none of your business," snaps Don while Mia grimaces and groans some more. Mizuki points her finger at him and counters, "It _is_ our business since everything was goin' fine until you showed up. You just-uuuugh!"

"Should we not be thinking about the fight? It is very clear that Pokémon are not ordinary creatures and will be difficult to best. We have a good chance of winning because of what Azelf said," I bring everyone back to the problem. Don crossly stares at Mizuki before turning to me. "The bulk of their power is suppressed in human form."

"How strong are they normally?" wonders Don.

"It was established they can demolish worlds dummy, so take a guess," retorts Mizuki. The grass sways peacefully in the mid-afternoon sunlight, how ironic that this place will soon become anything but peaceful. The Pokémon stand on the side opposite of us, the black cloaked one standing farther away from both of us. Uxie comes over to us, holding his hands up in peace. "Should I take that as a surrender?" Mizuki asks with a smirk.

"No. I need to explain how these battles work and the restrictions I already told them about," says Uxie bluntly. "Mesprit says she is willing to fight for you since humans don't typically fight Pokémon."

"She's a kid," Mizuki waves the idea away. "That's not happening."

"Humans give Pokémon commands and they do them. It's not complicated."

"Like if I told her to punch you she would?"

"That is not where her specialty lies but essentially-"

"That's too confusing. Thanks but no thanks, we'll pass."

"It's not a matter of confusion, you simply choose not to understand. So you're going to battle us yourselves? That's a very unwise idea," Uxie says disapprovingly. "But I digress. The restrictions are the same, we're not fighting to kill. Is that clear enough?"

"Yes."

"Yup."

Don does not answer as he is kneeling beside Mia, fecklessly attempting to wake her up. "Cresselia can wake her up, there is no need to distress," assures Uxie politely. "She's busy waking someone else up, it'll take some time before she can help Mia." He walks away and speaks to all of the Pokémon, "I think it will be efficient for the strongest in each trio or duo to go against them. It'll be three against four, it might even out if Mia wakes up. We decide which one we'll fight."

"They're fighting themselves?" asks Palkia doubtfully. The one with golden claws on his shirt folds his arms and uncouthly comments, "They're not smart humans."

"I remind all of you that we are fighting for sport and not to eliminate them," Mesprit says while looking sharply at the one who sparked the entire trust issue. "Also we cannot break out of our human bodies and revert to our true forms."

"Why not?" demands the same man.

"The enemy can sense when we use a lot of power and will most likely take us again. We have to restrain ourselves slightly but that doesn't mean we can't go to our human forms' limits," reassures Uxie, making the disagreeable one mildly content. The intelligent little boy faces us and joins his siblings on the Pokémon side, "Are you guys ready?"

"Totally!" Mizuki gives them a thumbs up. I bet now she is feeling confident since Uxie told the other side to restrain themselves. "Which one of you is going first?"

"Me, fighting for my brother and sister," Azelf points to himself. I gasp as Mizuki gawks at the child. "I thought you trusted us, why would we need to fight you?" I ponder aloud.

"I want to understand how you will fight against us. I want to experience your power," says Azelf coolly. "Hmm, I'd like to see what kind potential harbors in Mizuki."

"Sure," Mizuki reluctantly agrees while walking towards him. "Payback for those bagels huh?"

"This could end disastrously for them, what're they going to do if that human strikes Azelf?" Palkia curiously asks everyone. None of the others seem to care much, Rayquaza is making sure Groudon and the plump woman keep their distance, the gaudy males except Palkia are observing Mizuki and the rest of us, and Darkrai silently watches everyone from afar. "Don't worry about that, my brother knows what he's doing," Uxie affirms. Mesprit steps in between Mizuki and Azelf and raises her hand and then drops it, signaling the start.

Mizuki immediately jolts forward and uses her odd hand technique of striking the body. Azelf easily evades her like a twirling leaf in the wind and jumps on her shoulder to push-off her. Will she be bested by a child in the first few minutes of this match? I can see Mizuki getting angry as she lunges at him with amazing hand speed, "God, a hit would be good enough," Mizuki screams in frustration as she continues her frontal assault. "Plan B then." Azelf dodges all of her attacks airborne; when his shoes touch the grass Mizuki is suddenly in front of him and within perfect striking distance. "What?" she looks terrified for a second.

"That trick of yours isn't going to work," he replies smugly, avoiding her yet again. She bends down low for a foot sweep but is too slow for the quick child. "I'm the fastest of the bunch, surely you have some way of reaching me," regards Azelf as he stands straight and stares at his opponent with a smirk. Suddenly Mizuki shoots backward, crashing with a thump into the ground.

"He didn't move," observes Don in shock. I hum in agreement while I watch Mizuki sit up, just as confused as we are.

"Would you like to try once more?" inquires Azelf tauntingly.

"Duh!" In a flash Mizuki is on her feet and has her arm stretched out as if she just struck something. Azelf stands beside her and sends her back flying towards us without moving a muscle. She skids against the dirt as she slides back. "Why isn't it working? Oh shit, shit, shit, my head is killing me."

"I never would've guessed a human in this world could warp time," says the flashy male in midnight blue attire.

"Mizuki you have to get up," I urge her as she strains to pick herself up. How did Azelf get Mizuki in this state without making an actual move? "I learned that you distort time from when I stole your food and when you caught Mesprit. Are there other tricks in the bag?" taunts Azelf, clearly enjoying infuriating Mizuki. She picks herself up and sighs exasperatedly as she tries landing a punch but he avoids swiftly. I could land a solid blow on him but Mizuki is incredibly sluggish, is that why he picked her?

"So Mizuki is stopping the flow of time," Don says. "That explains a lot doesn't it?" I nod while Don notes, "That kid is doing his best to dodge her every move. Getting in contact with him means serious trouble."

"It makes sense as to how she would appear behind him without me seeing her move," I respond as Mizuki and Azelf dance with each other in the breeze. "He is really toying with her."

"Try a little harder now, I know you can," encourages Azelf as he leaves her barrage of punches.

"Come on then!" she barks. She must be too frustrated to think clearly, she might as well accept her defeat with open arms. "You can end it with a hit Mizuki!" I shout as she is flung back towards the other Pokémon.

"I know that!" hollers Mizuki. She knows? How long will it take for her to develop a new strategy then?

Her enraged tomato face loses color; she opens her fists, gathers all her fingers together, and lunges at the telekinetic child while stumbling uncoordinatedly. He leaps back in the air and I see a smile stretch across Mizuki's face. Azelf frowns as his decent drastically slows down, it is as if his own gravity has been tampered with. What is she doing to him? "Underestimate me and you're done," she proudly asserts while shooting towards him.

"Humans can't distort gravity!" remarks Palkia, just as petrified as the man in blue is.

"Here it comes, there's no avoiding that," Don comments. "I guess I underestimated the-wha?" Even I am struck with shock to see Mizuki frozen in midair, only her fearful eyes moving. Azelf lowers himself and steps to safety and Mizuki drops face-flat. When she lifts her head she is fuming again, "You little psychic cheater!"

"I didn't realize distorting space was something you could do," Azelf praises modestly with a curtsy. Mesprit raises her tiny hand and declares, "Mizuki wins!" Her jaw drops in confusion while Don and I are in utter shock.

"But you-froze me? I didn't-" stammers Mizuki. The man with the golden trinkets on his clothes looks ready to fight the verdict but Uxie intervenes, "Azelf is a Pokémon that would make you paralyzed for life if you physically hurt him. You came close to striking a powerful blow so he stopped you with as you guessed, telekinesis," explains Uxie, making Mizuki go pale with fear. "It still counts as a win."

"T-thanks," she says hesitantly while returning to our side. Panting like a dog and plopping beside Mia, she lets her head sink between her knees. "Please don't have me go against anymore psychic children."

"I think those three are the only ones," I assure with a chuckle. "You figured him out quickly."

"Based on what Einstein over there told me about himself and his siblings, it wasn't too hard to put two and two together," replies Mizuki groggily. I bring my attention back to the opposing side, "Who is going now?"

"She looks formidable for a human girl," the man in the golden trinkets comments about me as he approaches the battlefield. Rayquaza blocks him with his frail-looking arm. "I'll fight her on behalf of Groudon and Kyogre," he floats in the air and swoops down, stopping short in front of me and almost blowing my hood down.

"What kind of things are they?" Don utters in astonishment.

"He looks easy to-uh never mind," Mizuki lowers her head when caught in Rayquaza's glower.

"Things that shouldn't be underestimated," he answers while briefly examining Don, then turns to me, "I haven't forgotten what happened this morning, I've been waiting to return the favor." He backs away as I follow him to the center of the field.

"You Pokémon enjoy holding grudges," I comment as he narrows his eyes at me. The Keyblade summons itself in my hand and I wield it both hands while I give him my side. Mesprit raises her hand to the sky but before she lowers it I inquire, "Can I hit him?"

"Yes but don't expect the battle to be like Azelf's," she warns. "This Pokemon doesn't have telekinesis but has a skill set different from some of us. Ready?" I nod and she retreats to the Pokémon side as she lowers her hand; The flying man charges in head-first carelessly. I wait for him to come and when he does, I swing the blade over my head, striking him directly across his body. While he staggers from the blow I lunge at him but he quickly shoots up to avoid me. By brandishing his arms rapidly, sharp and gusty air currents nearly blow me off my feet but I keep my footing. He seems to be concentrating on my sword hand and not directly at me-it is a good thing he does not know about the Keyblade. I escape his harsh currents and then he swoops down for a punch but I crouch down and kick upward, getting him right in the rib cage. He reels back a bit and then holds his hands over his head while the wind swirls in his palms.

I shoot a beam of Light from the Keyblade's tip but Rayquaza evades it with ease. Then he swoops down like a hawk while grasping something invisible. When I jump back, the wind drives me into the ground with a boom; I notice a tear on my sleeve and when I see him coming in too quickly, I put up the Keyblade up to block him. The turbulent winds he is controlling in his hands locks us in a stalemate. He grins his mouth wide open gleefully while saying, "You have yet to face the wrath of a dragon. What're you going to do if your sword is blown away by an air slash?" Finally the Keyblade flies out of my grasp and I am knocked to the dirt. "You're up against me, it's supposed to end this way." With agility, he strikes me before I can get up, sending me rolling around in the grass. "Without that sword, you really are doomed."

"That human made a mistake when she agreed to take Rayquaza on herself," Groudon boasts.

"Try that again then," I get on one knee and pull my hood down. I extend my right hand out, waiting on the Keyblade to return; the flying man comes at me with incredible speed and that is when the Keyblade reappears and I swipe him away like a fly with a harsh blow to the head. He twirls in the air, holding his head while snarling at me.

"A blade that looks like a key and returns to its wielder, a Keyblade?" Palkia guesses from behind me. "Very interesting." Now is not the time to be wondering how he knows about that. To my side, I hear Mizuki's voice, "Can you wake her up?"

"Yes but it'll be difficult. The immense Darkness within her is going to make it hard to reach her," says the woman I found sleeping on the couch earlier. While distracted, I am knocked back to the ground by Rayquaza's strike, the Keyblade still in hand. The back of my head hits the moist ground and I can feel the wind getting stronger with every passing second. Grey storm clouds cover the skies, briefly distracting Rayquaza. I slam my hand on the ground and feel everything beneath me shake, including the rocks from down below. "Are you regretting your decision human?" he asks me while still looking to the sky. "Not a lot of humans can endure my wrath."

Huge rock spikes jut out in front of me, causing the winds to die down. I sit up to see Rayquaza aerially dodging most of them. Scrambling to my feet, I quickly run around the upward-shooting spikes aimed at the flying man. While he is still distracted, I leap towards him and buffet him in the chest, sending him straight to the ground with a thud. "Yeah Risa! Knock Peter Pan down!" cheers Mizuki. I sprint to him before he can recover but he thrusts his palm out and I am blown off of my feet, dangling above the battle field by an aerial snake. "It won't be easy for you to defeat me. But first I have to see who I'm fighting. Why hide your face?"

Suddenly the snake releases me and Rayquaza flies towards ground. I put the Keyblade defensively in front of me and he grabs it while he flies us around the field. The Keyblade vanishes and I drop to the ground harshly while rolling backwards. I have the stamina to endure his powerful blows but how long can I survive them? "You're quite the strong one for a child," remarks Rayquaza, hovering over my exposed face.

"Thanks but I have more than that," I retort while thrusting my fingers into the dirt. A barrage of vines ensnares the flying Pokémon's limbs, trapping him in the air. To my displeasure he grins while squirming in my trap. "You're no ordinary human I see, I can't go easy on you." The wind kicks up and at the same time, Rayquaza breaks free of vines and avoids the thick vines trying to grab him while flying towards me. Wait a little bit longer…now! The Keyblade appears in my hands and shoots a pair of Light orbs at him directly, bringing him to my level. I charge towards him and that is when he makes his move-he tackles me with his body engulfed in auburn and scarlet flames that do not burn. I barely keep my balance as pounds me repeatedly with his bare fists while screaming in fury. Is this Clancy who is striking me? Why is he doing this? His words echo through my mind clearly, _"I'll prove that I don't always need you to save me!"_But I do, that is why I have to help you.

The last blow drives me into the ground and I snap back to reality with someone's voice, "He went all out to save his pride." I wipe away something warm from my lips, afraid the girl with pink hair will stop the battle if she sees me like this. I push myself up, despite my body screaming in pain, while staggering backwards, another hit like that and this will be over. To my surprise I spot Rayquaza, no longer covered in flames, bent over while in the air. He grips the sides of his head while his eyes bulge out. "Snap out of it!" hollers the woman that was in the bathtub earlier. Unsure of what to do, I raise the Keyblade at him tentatively.

"Don't hold back!" Don bellows from the sidelines. Concentrating all my energy in the broken sword, I bend down when I feel its pulse. I dash towards the dizzy Rayquaza and strike him from the front and then in the back with a loud grunt. "Just like you practiced," I whisper to myself as I throw the Keyblade like a boomerang. It lands a hit while bursting into a white light that makes everyone gape in awe. The gleaming Keyblade returns to my hand spinning while Rayquaza collapses from the stinging attack. "It is over," I mumble with a heavy sigh while I sink to the ground.

"Was he beaten by a human like that?" the woman from the bathtub gulps down a bottle of water she got from Uxie earlier.

"The one who holds the Keyblade distinguishes themselves from the rest," Palkia says proudly. "Rayquaza might as well stepped into doom." The wind stirs up once more and I hastily get to my feet, this Pokémon will not hand over victory the way Azelf did. I shield my eyes from the debris while blades of grass kick up around me but I lower my hand when I see Rayquaza hovering limply. While giving me his back he says angrily, "As the Pokémon of the firmament above, I ask you, why do you want us?!" Gusts of swirling wind scoop me off my knees and lift me into the air.

"Jesus Christ, it's a vortex you…" yells Mizuki from below. At this height everyone is a spec, safe from Rayquaza's sudden and specific twister. Rayquaza is nowhere in sight until I am quickly tackled in the chest. I backflip while flailing my arms, trying to keep my balance in this airborne state. He flies back to the eye of the fierce, stationary tornado and glares at me. "You heard me human, why help us?" Clancy replaces Rayquaza as he points his Keyblade at me and declares, _"You can't watch over me forever!"_

"Clancy?" I mutter as spin around him. Rayquaza returns, his face reddening while the cyclone grows fiercer. "You need me."

"Your concern is unnecessary, us Pokémon are as free as the wind," retorts Rayquaza stubbornly. "Why help us Scarred Human?" I squeeze the Keyblade's handle and close my eyes, ignoring the howls of the wind and concentrating on the core of the twister. Clancy is not here anymore, it is me and this Pokémon. "Why help us?" he repeats. I manage to place my other hand on the Keyblade, center it, and open my eyes. "To make…"

"What?" he flies towards me, gearing himself up for another swift tackle. Just as he gets in front of me, I reiterate over the noisy winds, "To make up for the one I could not save." A lightning bolt from the dark sky zaps him before he can reach me. The gusts of wind dwindle into soft drafts and the two of us plummet almost a mile away from the spectators. He is the first "person" to see me with my hood down in a long time, I hope he forgets my face soon.

Mizuki cries out my name in horror and becomes louder when I get closer to the ground. Despite how scared I was when I was trapped in the twister, I was glad to be up there. I could almost touch the clouds again. A pillow of wind catches me and gently drops me to the ground while Rayquaza falls face-first into the dirt with an earth-shaking thud. "As long I can help one person, I can make up for not saving one," I answer the rest of his question while I watch the sky clear up. Did Rayquaza break my fall at the last second?

"Get up Risa, he's coming!" Mizuki shouts encouragingly. My hands tighten and with a little push from a rock beneath me, I stumble to my feet, gasping for air as I watch Rayquaza advance to me. Sweat cascades my face and drips onto the Keyblade I grip firmly. He leans to me as I raise the Keyblade over my shoulder and he collapses on top of me. The Keyblade disappears and now I am holding his slightly singed body up. He smells _awful_ but nonetheless I finally let myself exhale as I drop to my knees. "Yeah! Woohoo!" shouts Mizuki as she and the Pokémon run to where we are. Mesprit raises her hand and says, "Risa wins that one."

"What?" Groudon and the one the golden trinkets exclaim. Burly Groudon runs to us, takes Rayquaza from me, and throws him on her shoulder. "You messed him up!"

"She won," Rayquaza mutters, surprising Groudon. "Let it go." Mizuki comes over to retrieve me, grinning while I put my arm over her shoulders. "That was so cool! You owned Peter Pan. Oh yeah, good news, Mia's up."

"I grow impatient," the ill-tempered man says crossly. "I want to face the child over there." He points at Mia who is in Don's arms wide awake at last. The woman who was sleeping on the sofa is now sleeping at Mia's feet. "Mia how do you feel?" I ask with an exhausted sigh.

"F-fine," she answers timidly. "I have to fight him?"

"You don't have to do anything you don't want to do," replies Don as he lets Mia sit up on her own. She stares at her open palms intensely and then clenches them. "I want to do this."

J.G.P.


	10. Friends Worth Giving Up Your Life For

As Korbin approaches, I attempt to sit up but it's hard when there are Keyblades stuck in my hands and chest. "I hate seeing family members in such agony, tsk." While I scream, I force myself to my feet and flee from him. "You're not going anywhere." I feel his icy hand on my shoulder freeze me in place. "I'll plunge you into the abyss where you belong, tsk."

"No!" I protest. Seth emerges from the abyss wall in front of me with an empathetic expression. "No? You're with me, your friend."

"You're not my friend!" his sudden embrace makes my heart pound furiously. The floor beneath us gives away like crumbling rocks and we fall together to the bottomless chasm. I can feel myself getting weaker as we continue to descend. "We're not friends! I'm not going to let you do this to me!" I mean to push him away but my hands pierce through his squishy insides and organs. He screams in horror as he shoves me out of him. My descent comes to a halt as I crash to the floor but for some reason I'm not hurt. When I reopen my eyes, I sit up to find Korbin kneeling in front of me, panting exhaustedly. Was it him all along? My legs can't move, I'm paralyzed from the waist down. I glance at the gaping holes in my hands and push myself back away from my assailant. Korbin won't let me run away and I won't forgive myself if my parents' murderer gets me too. I'm a lot stronger than when I first encountered him.

I stumble to my feet and pull my bo out. The numbness in my trembling legs fade as I boast, "I won't let you do this to me." To my surprise my strength returns as I charge toward him. Korbin extends his hand out and deep crimson vines shoot out at me. Before they reach me someone familiar gets in between me and the vines.

"No!" Don objects as he lets the vines dig inside his body. "Run Mia!"

"I can't leave you like this."

"Don't touch me, keep fighting against the nigh-uugh!" he drops to his knees. "Get out of here!"

"Thank you," I cry out tearfully as I hurry to the opposite direction. My bo turns to a pasty mush and swallows my hands. Like gum it stretches out and sticks to the blank void, trapping me. It suddenly turns into Seth's overextended face, laughing at me. "Don't leave so soon Mia." My insides do backflips as I try wriggling out of his gooey face. I have to keep fighting, I can't let him or Korbin have my life, no matter how pathetic it is. Suddenly a rosy, transparent wall forms right in front of me, dissolving Seth's plasmatic face. Korbin's tentacles plunge through Don and attempt to penetrate the barrier but can't. "It took me a while to find you, there is so much Darkness in your heart," a feminine voice from behind speaks to me. I turn around and my eyes widen. "All that sorrow blocks out the Light."

"Wha-why are you here?"

"To protect you of course," Mom smiles as she holds her hand out. "Come, I'll bring you out of this nightmare."

"Nightmare?" I utter in disbelief as I take her hand. Mom looks as she did before she died, beautiful and headstrong with a slight pout when she's not smiling. I spot a faint light in front of us and turn to see an aubergine hand from the goo impale the barrier. I shake my hand anxiously as Mom aloofly strolls along and another barrier blocks it. "Did you do that?"

"Uh-huh. Don't ever look back at your fears, they will resurface and try to regain their hold on your heart."

"What were you saying about a nightmare?"

"Right…Darkrai, the Pokémon in black rags, used Dark Void on you. It has brought you to a deep slumber that induces horrifying nightmares and forces humans and Pokémon to face their fears. But he didn't mean to do it to you," she explains sadly. "I know him better than most and he never wants to bring people nightmares unless they threaten him. He prefers to alienate himself from us."

"Hey wanna race into town?" asks Mizuki who appears next to me suddenly. Her body is literally shimmering like a reflection in the water during sunrise while dashing towards the light. "You know how slow Mizuki is, you can beat her in a second," Risa claims as she paces next to me. "I am not sure if you can beat me though." Following Mizuki into the white light in the distance, she vanishes with her. Mom looks over her shoulder and smiles at my baffled expression.

"I bring out the Light in people's dreams. They represent some of your Light," informs Mom with a content sigh as she faces the white beam of light. "Are you tired of fighting this nightmare? I'll drown it in your sweetest dreams."

"Mom, how do you know all this?" I ask abruptly.

"Huh? I'm not your mom Mia." Her backside flashes a few times and then my Mom's appearance disappears. I snatch my hand back, examining the woman with the purplish hair. She turns and smiles anxiously, yet keeps her self-assured tone steady, "I'm a Pokémon meant to save you from Darkrai's nightmare, it's okay, we're almost there." Even in my nightmare I can't win against Seth or Korbin and would've died without Don. When will I stop being saved, when will I take control of my pathetic life? "Are you ready to wake up?"

"Yeah," I step past her and bolt for the glistening light. Voices that sound far away come into focus when I reach the star. I open my eyes to the partly cloudy sky and gently remove the woman who I thought was Mom off my head. I hear Don's voice, "You're awake Mia!"

"Mm-hm," I hum with a faint smile as Don puts his hand under my head.

"Mia, thank God you're up," Mizuki pulls me from Don grasp and crushes me in a bear hug. "I didn't wanna fight the rest of them."

"Fight who?" I glance around, getting a glimpse of Risa and someone else lying in the grass and the Pokémon across the field. "What's going on?"

' ' '

"I have to fight him?" Mizuki and Don brought me up to current events and I can't help but feel guilty. If I hadn't gotten in the way none of this would've happened. Sometimes I worry if I'm more harmful than helpful. "You don't have to do anything you don't want to do," says Don.

"I want to do this," I steadfastly reply, shaking Don's hands off me as I stand up obstinately. "I can't depend on everyone to fight for me. I want-"

"What?" Don gets to his feet and reaches out to me but his hand flinches back to his side. He shamefully looks away and kicks the dirt in frustration as I pull out my staff from its carrier. "I don't want you to get hurt in your state."

"Says the one who jabbed her in the face," coughs Mizuki conspicuously, still holding a watchful Risa. Don grimaces and gives me his back. "Mizuki it was an accident. I got in the way," I reply but Mizuki waves my argument as if it's polluted gas.

"You gotta stop being so self-deprecating."

"What does that mean?"

"She's right Mia," says Don remorsefully, unable to look me in the eyes. "All I've done is-"

"Enough," interrupts Giratina, standing beside Mesprit. "Come before I drag you myself." I grip the bo staff as I bring my attention to the looming man and trudge toward him.

"I remind you that this is for game," Mesprit retells seriously. "And you cannot surpass your human limit otherwise you'll-"

"I understand."

"Okay!" Mesprit signals the start and retreats hastily. We stare at each other for a little while, both of us waiting for each other to make the first move. "Is the fight over already?" he asks curious, folding his arms. I shake my head and swing my bo staff at him, knocking him off his feet. Without a bruise, he stands up and waits for my next move; I give him several body blows and knock him down swiftly but he just gets back up without a grimace or an utterance of pain. "I can tell you don't like fighting," he comments while stretching his arms out. "Is this you at your best?"

"Of course not!" I come at him at full force, bashing the end of the staff at his forehead and sending him flying back. Spinning the bo staff deftly, I toss it at him and it whacks him to the side and returns to my hand. I repeat that move two more times and they hit him but by the second attack, he catches the invisible bo staff. Darkness leaks from his hands like evaporating water as the staff reveals itself. "The power around this staff is similar to the world I come from. By bending light and distorting the natural particles around it, it remains invisible to many eyes." He spins the staff toward me and it bounces off me, landing in front of the spectating Pokémon. "Retrieve it human." When I scurry over to the staff, a harsh kick in my back has me tasting dirt. "This is truly pathetic."

"Nnngh-nothing is working!" I mutter in frustration. He repeatedly kicks me into the dirt as if trying to kill a stubborn ant. I manage to roll out of his foot's way and wipe the soil out of my eyes. Again I'm brought to the ground and placed underneath his foot. "You hold back, yet you wish to fight me," says Giratina deadpan. "I detest such weakness."

"He keeps getting in your shadow, that's why you keep getting knocked down," Mizuki notifies me. I roll on my back and catch his foot before he can stomp once more. It's been three minutes and I'm already barely holding on to consciousness. "Come on Mia, you can do it."

"That's right," he grins smugly as he tries to crush me. When I push his foot away from my face, I roll to the side and stumble to my feet, keeping my shadow in my peripheral vision. "Don't hold back." When I snatch my invisible staff off the ground, I lunge at him while he raises his hands to his shoulders. The earth trembles but it doesn't stop me; boulders from beneath his feet rise in the air and he sends them my way. I immediately slide down to avoid the first two, I roll out of the third one's way and do my best to block the last one. It explodes on impact and I'm driven into the dirt as I'm blasted backwards. "Mia get up!" Risa shouts.

"Mia!" Don shouts from afar. Both of their voices are fading fast-charging into battle after having an energy-draining nightmare was a terrible idea. I hear footsteps, probably Mesprit's, did I lose already? "I'll give you a hint because you're the one fighting him and not me. I don't care that he's fighting for us." I lift my head and squint as the sunlight reflects off the upside down man's chest-encrusted sapphire. Dialga speaks softly enough for me to hear, "He won't tell you but he's a ghost Pokémon, your normal attacks won't affect him."

"Isn't he your friend? Why are you helping me?" I mumble while struggling to keep my eyes open.

"Friend? He is a despicable Pokémon who I bear a grudge against. You're the one fighting him," he answers hopefully. His face becomes blurry for a little while and then he is blanketed by darkness. Darn it, I just escaped the darkness why am I back here? I can make out Mesprit's voice just barely, "...out cold. Giratina..."

"...atrocious brute...hurt...Mia," I think that's Mizuki talking.

"...not satisfied with that," Giratina's voice is still far away but I can hear him better since his voice is deep. "She is still there." Did I do something to make him hate me? "...lay a finger on her!" Don must be yelling. "I'll fight you if I have to."

"The battle is over," insists Mesprit. "You, Palkia, and Dialga...leave."

"...fight in her stead?"

"You just fought-"

"Let her, she will be more of a challenge..." No! Someone is taking my fight, who? "Come with your blade." Risa is the one fighting for me. I'm happy to have a friend like her but I'm a little jealous too. She can probably defeat Giratina, she's good enough. Why did that spiteful man beat me so easily? Oh, he fought fiercely because he wanted to win for his friends. Isn't that why he started this whole tournament thing?

_Friend? He's a despicable Pokémon..._

_He's unreasonable..._

_What did you do to us Giratina?_

It's like everyone's against him-wait, why am I giving him sympathy? I've treated him with nothing but kindness and he nearly killed me. I shouldn't be so amiable with a _hostile_ Pokémon like him. He doesn't deserve any sympathy...where have I heard that before? _Don't feel bad for her, she killed her own mother and father. She deserves no sympathy._

_I heard she killed her own parents. My daddy calls her a savage._

_Abominations like you must be eradicated Mia._

_We're enemies Mia._

Oh, I think I understand now. I have to get up right now-get up, come on! Get up! I feel some blades of grass fall on my face, waking me up from my daze. The Pokémon Giratina skids past me with a loud grunt; I blink the grassy field into focus and reach for my bo staff. As I quietly try to grasp it, Giratina places his foot on it while coldly watching my unsuccessful struggle. "Please," I mumble, "Let me fight you again. I won't hold back anymore." The triplets with multi-colored hair and the woman in my bathtub Kyogre surround me suddenly.

"You've been unconscious for fifteen minutes. Your battle is already over," says Uxie without any consideration.

"The keeper of balance wishes to fight once more," states Giratina as he parts Uxie and Kyogre aloofly. "Let the keeper do so."

"You insolent Pokémon! How can you hurt a human child that has already been beaten?" argues Kyogre. "Are you that heartless?" Disregarding her, his intense gaze falls upon me only.

"Don't call him that," I respond feebly as I force myself to sit up and look up at his narrowing eyes. He looks slightly unkempt, Risa gave him a few scratches here and there. "Please give me a second chance," I request once more.

"Can you really go on Mia?" Mesprit asks me worriedly. After exhaling deeply, I nod and she gazes at her wide-eyed brother who replies, "Her resolve is firm." Kyogre doesn't look content with his final opinion and unwillingly returns to the other side with Uxie and the wide-eyed boy. "I know you're trying to prove something to yourself but you don't have to do it like this," whispers Mesprit while walking away from me, then announces, "Mia is able to fight still."

"Alright Mia! I knew you weren't done yet!" shouts Mizuki enthusiastically. "Go get 'em!" Giratina kicks the bo staff to me and gives me space while looking to the side, "It is a shame we only got started. You might have won too." I gaze at Risa holding her Keyblade with both hands while panting. While I pick up the staff I wave it towards her and she waves back as she returns to Mizuki, who's holding Don back. "I can't fail again," I say to myself quietly. "Not when I know I can do this." I stand offensively and take off towards Giratina. He blocks my combo with his bare arms and when I see the opening in his chest, I jab him and spin the staff rapidly over my head. The lukewarm, grey aura spilling from my fingertips fills the carvings on my dad's staff and shapes two curved blades at each end. I toss it at him with incredible speed and while he comes back from my first attack, the staff consistently assaults him. It finally bounces off him after the fourth spin and returns to my fingers; I prepare myself for his next attack while keeping my shadow in my peripheral vision.

"Interesting," remarks Giratina as he gets to his feet. "What has changed your attitude?"

"I finally understood something about you," I reply with a quick smile that perturbs him. "Besides that, I'm tired of losing."

"The keeper of balance wants to taste victory. Unfortunately, this failure will add to others." The breeze picks up suddenly and then becomes potent enough to push me back. I shove the staff into the ground to make sure this odd gust doesn't lift me in the air. Amaranthine taints the swirling breezes and I sense the Darkness within them. When the wind begins to lighten, Darkness covers the sky and both spectators' sides. "What happened to everyone?" Something cerulean shines behind me and would've spun into me if I didn't have my staff in front of me. I shove the condensed, blue sphere to the side, watching it disappear into the distance. When I feel someone's heavy gaze on me, I turn to my left to find Giratina standing there. "Where is everyone?"

"Why does it matter?"

"It matters because our friends are gone," I anxiously run around, fecklessly searching for them.

"Friends?"

"Yes!"

"Why does the welfare of the people you named 'friends' matter?" he asks with genuine curiosity. "They are not you. Does hurting them affect you?" I face him boldly and twirl the staff. With grey energy pulsing through it, I throw the spinning weapon at him. His body flickers like a dying light bulb and then vanishes completely. "Where are you?!"

I'm rammed into my side and thrown into the ground. "'Our friends' do not exist here," he says apathetically as he looms over me. "We're partly in the realm of balance. The keeper of balance should be able to coexist in harmony within Light and Darkness. Your weakness and failures tip the scale." My failure to save Seth from being consumed by Darkness and my failure to avenge my parents, all those things? "Failure is inevitable for you."

"What're you actually trying to tell me?" I roll onto my side and face him while curling into a fetal position. That tackle hurts worse than anything else he's done, but I'm going to bear it.

"As long as you don't change," he answers while he raises his palm out to me, gathering Darkness into a sphere. "As long as you remain weak, as long as let your failures tip the scale towards Darkness, you will sink into your Darkness." His nonchalant exterior breaks as he shouts, "The Darkness will devour you, it has no time for weaklings who can't face their shortcomings. You pay attention to others and not what lies in front of you, your fears!" He launches the shadow ball at me and I cry out as I push off the ground in time despite the throbbing pain coursing throughout my body. When the debris clears, I'm on my shaky feet but tired of holding in what I want to say.

"I know that I'm nice to people who treat me like dirt, I know that I'm weakest one of the bunch, I know that I lost Seth and couldn't avenge my parents- I know that my home is lost forever and that I've failed everyone," I scream while swallowing hard. "I don't care if my life is made up of failures and I don't even care if-if I drown in the Darkness. The only thing that matters to me are the friends I'd give up everything for." I pick up the bo staff and spin it, switching between hands. "The Pokémon you're fighting for, aren't they your friends?" His angry expression falters quickly and he's now dumbfounded.

"No."

"Don't you have people that you'd fight for? Pokémon that you would protect with everything you have?"

"No."

"I used to be the same way," I let out an exhausted sigh and then a soft chuckle. "And that was when I was weaker than I am now." He scrunches his face and forms another sphere of Darkness. I envelop the staff with Twilight energy and swipe the oncoming shadow ball away. The Twilight power disintegrates it and I charge into the stunned Giratina holding his ground. "And as long as I have my friends with me, I know I won't ever sink into the Darkness. They wouldn't let me." I bash his head with the other end of the staff and send him into the air. I trap him in a flurry of jabs and finish it with a forceful blow against his cranium. As he flips in midair, his body flickers and disappears. He appears in front of me and drives his strong fist into my stomach. "Friends don't tip the scale." My saliva falls onto his wrist and he throws me off.

"Giratina, can I ask you something?" I stutter while holding my side with my free hand. When I cough, some blood gets on my hand that I hastily wipe away on my pants. In a silent fury, he advances toward me with a terrifying, murderous look in his eyes. I channel more Twilight from my arms to my weapon while I hold my breath; when the staff beats like a drum, Giratina steps back as if he hears it too. I get on one knee and slash at the air, conjuring two silver, spiky daggers that pierce his thigh and his abdomen. He flops on his back in a pained gasp and the ominous wind that struck me blows once more as a normal breeze. The Dark battlefield dissipates and the evening sun brightens the grassy field. It's funny how I stood in this same field so long ago a completely different person than I before, I even lied here a different person.

But I'm still pretty pathetic. I scurry over to Giratina and exhale a sigh of relief when I watch the human-Pokémon grimace in pain. "Ah you're not bleeding, that's good. I had no idea what that was going to do."

"They returned from that realm," the man in violet observes with some relief in his tone. "The brutish Giratina would do something like that."

"Way to go Mia!" hollers Mizuki. I smile and wave happily at my friends. Risa is silently waving while Don waves weakly, those two are so much alike. "Teach that punk a lesson about starting fights he can't finish!"

"He technically won, remember? He finished the fight," I respond tiredly but with a cheerful attitude.

"Aww you're no fun Mia." Giratina's grunt brings my attention back to him, his haggard expression making me feel a little guilty for being so rough. "Sorry about Mizuki, she doesn't mean you're a punk. She says these things to make me laugh and it's really hard not to."

"Finish me," he mumbles in simmering frustration.

"We were doing this for sport remember?" I rub the sweat off my face and the back of my neck. "Do you want to continue?" He snarls and glowers at me as he tries getting up himself but falls back to the ground. "I'll take that as a yes. I'll help you up."

"It is obvious you would do anything but help me," retorts Giratina furiously. "You assume since you bested me you can ridicule me."

"Not at all! You obviously can't get up on your own," I wipe my sweaty hands on my dirt-stained shorts and hold them out to him. "You're bigger than me but I'll try my best. Ready?" He lets out an incredible roar that makes me recoil, his body envelops in Darkness. His gleaming eyes never leave me as I back away and raise the bo staff at him. Out of nowhere, Mesprit and her siblings charge past me and place their hands over Giratina.

"Mia you won, return to your friends now," orders Mesprit as the garnet gems on their foreheads shine.

' ' '

"So one more battle after this? It's almost dusk," I point out while I sit on the grass next to Mizuki and Risa. Don keeps his distance from us, still shaken up about Mizuki's coy remark from before, standing by Risa with his eyes to the grass. I wish Don would talk to me but I have feeling he won't. Whenever he's upset like this, it always has to do with me and it's me he won't speak to, why? It's eating me up inside, all I want to do right now is tell the entire world "I like Don!" and then we can talk like we always do. I almost mentioned that to Giratina but I think that would've confused the pitiful Pokémon more.

Speaking of the Pokémon, he's back to normal but he's been spitefully watching me from across the field for a while. Cresselia, who awakened in the midst of my fight, silently observes us with the young child with sandy blonde hair and oversized clothes sitting in her lap. He curiously looks at us all and then timidly lowers his head. Mizuki doesn't care about how taciturn everyone else is, she says, "I have to tell you what happened while you were passed out."

"I heard some of it," I tell her while scratching the back of my head. "But what else happened?"

"So after that rock smacked you like fly, that dude was charging at you like he wanted to kill you then and there."

"I got that vibe from him a few times."

"So then Conehead went to go block him and Pinkie ran over to see if you were still breathing...and Golden Claws got really annoyed. He shoved everyone out of his way and wouldn't let anyone get near you. Don would've killed him if Risa and I weren't holding him back, he was all 'Don't you lay a finger on my precious, perfect Mia-'"

"I never said that," snaps Don grouchily.

"Might as well have," she rolls her eyes and resumes the story, "I don't why but when Don said that he froze like a statue and he looked stupefied. He should've known Don makes empty threats all the time. So then Risa was like 'I cannot let them walk, it would not be right' or whatever so she volunteered to fight in your place. That dude snapped out of it and was okay with it but as soon as they started fighting he was like, 'if the keeper of balance does not awaken soon, I will leave'."

"What about the Pokémon he fought for?" I wonder if they really cared about what happened to him.

"They were annoyed that you lost-to be honest they creep me out," remarks Mizuki. "But when you appeared out of thin air with him on the ground, we were all rejoicing."

"Mizuki, I think-"

"What's up Pinkie?" Mizuki greets Mesprit as she strides to us with an awkward, nervous grin.

"Darkrai wishes to fight for himself and Cresselia and has requested to fight Don."

"You came all the way to this side for that?" he rudely asks. While I smile at my broody friend, Mesprit replies, "I'm just reminding you not to let your anger get the best of you as it did to Giratina."

"I just can't kill him right?"

"Yes." He follows Mesprit to the center of the field and waits for Darkrai to join him. "We never finished our fight anyway." Darkrai steps onto the field, lowering his scarf to his neck uncomfortably. Mesprit quickly signals the start while running back to her side and like lightning Don snatches Darkrai's scarf and slams him into the ground.

"What's wrong with your man Mia, he doesn't need to be that rough," Mizuki comments, nudging my shoulders. "We're just trying to win here." Then I remember Don's sacrifice in my nightmare and what I almost declared to Giratina and I can't help but blush. "He isn't my anything," I push her back gently to her amusement.

"Was he in your dream?" Risa wonders, making more heat rush to my face. "I guess he was."

"Hey!"

"I'm glad to see you're better Mia," the voice from my nightmare comes from behind us. The woman who I thought was my mom waves weakly.

"Thank you for saving me and I'm sorry I ran away from you," I reply shamefully.

"Don't apologize, you were amazing. I was supposed destroy the nightmare myself but you did most of the work and to top it all off, you barely needed my guidance to get yourself out," she remarks in admiration. "My name is Cresselia and it's very nice to meet you all." My face becomes a new shade of red as the compliments further embarrass me. "You're turning as red as this one is. Come on, don't be shy." The child looks at all three of us with beady eyes as if he just woke up from a nap.

"Hi there," I wave and he flinches back. "I'm-"

"Mia, Mizuki, Risa."

"So you're another psychic one?" assumes Mizuki disdainfully.

"Psychic?" he hesitates and then nods, "I guess I am. My name's Jirachi."

J.G.P.


	11. The Price of Victory

Don's rings hover in the air like malicious wasps as Darkrai evades Don's relentless attacks. Darkrai's on the defense for some reason, I would've thought he would be as aggressive as the serial killer Mia went up against. The Pokémon finally gets a good distance away from Don and points his hand at him. The sucky part about fighting Don is that he's good up close and far away. Violet energy gathers in the form of a bullet and Darkrai launches it at Don, landing a direct hit. It covers him and the grass in Dark airy matter. Meanwhile, one of Don's rings crashes into Darkrai from behind, staggering him slightly. Don obviously took the hit but isn't letting that stop him as he skyrockets toward Darkrai. He sinks into the ground and becomes a shadow, making Don's charge useless. "You think you can hide from me?" he fervently looks around and astutely notices the shadow crawling toward the Pokémon side. He waves his hands and the golden rings augment and plummet into Darkrai's shadow. One ring pins him there and two more pound into the immobilized shadow. "Will someone remind me? I think the point is to win the battle not pummel them to death," I comment, looking at Mia who looks more concerned than I do.

"Don's getting his revenge on him for hurting me," Mia admits guiltily.

"Well no shit." I remember how it felt being on Don's bad side when we went Chaos Emerald hunting and if you're on it, you're one unlucky bastard. "You think we'll have to intervene?"

"Does anyone have a wish?" Jirachi speaks up. "I can-"

"Not now Shrimp, we've gotta watch this," I turn back to the battle which is looking more like a curb-stomp fight, Don doing the stomping.

"Don't bother trying to hide," Don momentarily halts his assault as Darkrai is forced out of hiding. "Aren't you upset that Mia is awake? You wanted her to stay trapped in your nightmares, right?!"

"It wasn't meant-"

"Go to hell!" A ring slams into Darkrai's side and another and another, each one bringing him closer to Don. The underdog of this curb-stomp battle has his arms up defensively but I know he's suffering from those nasty rings. Finally Don delivers an angst-filled punch to Darkrai's face and shouts, "Try that with me, I dare you!" I fold my knees while I sit down beside Mia and exchange a worried glance with Risa.

"Perhaps we should have never gotten him involved," Risa reflects aloud.

"I know but you shoved himself into this 'cuz of the Mia thing. When he starts he doesn't stop," I remind her. "Why isn't Darkrai fighting back?"

"He is trying to avoid using Dark Void on him," clarifies Cresselia. "But it looks like he'll be using it shortly." As she says that, Darkrai runs far away from both groups of onlookers, getting Don in his line of sight. I feel someone's gaze on me and I catch a glimpse of the dudes in purple and dark blue eyeing me strangely. When I turn back to Darkrai and Don, Darkrai's hands come together and as he pushes them out, a colorless sphere of Darkness flies to Don. "There it goes."

"Don!" Mia cries out, leaning in close to see what happens. Don sprints through Dark Void and none of us can see him anymore as he's cloaked in thick folds of Darkness the way Mia was earlier when she decided she could stop the belligerent Don from brawling. "That's that," I hear Azelf comment and then he fearfully stares at the fighters. When the folds of Darkness break down, I slap my cheeks and get up. "Oh my God!"

Mia turns to me with a concerned expression and then gapes at Don and Darkrai. "He's-he's awake."

"What?" Cresselia stares closely, squinting her purplish eyes and gasping. Even the on-looking Pokémon, besides the unconscious slender one in green and the pissy one Mia owned, gasp and are astonished to see Don sprinting to his opponent. He surprises Darkrai too, landing a powerful punch in the Pokémon's face, backed up by the rings swooping down on him like birds diving for food. "How is that possible?" wonders Cresselia frightfully.

"Dark Void brings humans and Pokémon to sleep, that boy ran into it. Why did it fail?" Azelf asks Uxie, who remains deathly silent.

"Impossible!" Darkrai exclaims as he releases the Dark Void again. Don rushes into it once more-unscathed and wide awake, he grips Darkrai's throat and uppercuts him so that his rings can buffet him aerially. "You think you can bring me to your realm of nightmares?" Don hollers while his rings cruelly drive Darkrai into the ground. "You've got another thing coming. You're not hurting Mia ever again, I'll bury you here!" He halts the assault to pick up Darkrai and throw him in the air as his golden rings strike him, bringing his motionless body to us. Mia and I shriek as he rolls onto his back and his eyes look in our direction; he doesn't blink, grunt, tremble, or do anything else to prove he's alive.

"You win Don, it's over," Mesprit declares earnestly as she and her brothers hurry to Darkrai's sides.

"I was just getting started," the rings return to Don's bare, slightly defined arms as he strolls towards Darkrai and the children. "I'll wake him up so we can continue."

"He's lost all the willpower to fight you," insists Azelf desperately. "Calm yourself and go, this is over." Don crosses his arms and walks past us in frustrated silence. Everyone on the Pokémon side is baffled and stricken with dumbness as victory stares us in the face with lifeless sapphire eyes.

' ' '

Six o' clock came and all of us-excluding Don-are in Mia's place. The unconscious one Risa pummeled woke up after the psychic siblings and Jirachi, with extra persuasion, restored Darkrai and the fighters to their healthy states. It's a relief that he's okay, if Don continued, he would've freaked out like Golden Claws did and probably be dead or something. Mesprit, Uxie, Azelf, and the flashy dude in purple lead the meeting in the living room while me, Risa, and Mia segregate ourselves from them. "I've already explained the situation to all of you but Palkia understands what happened better than me," says Uxie, looking towards Palkia.

"What's there to understand? Something brought us here," the one in dark blue retorts petulantly. "There's not much to it."

"That's where you're wrong," refutes Palkia. "Something of pure Darkness took us from our dimensions and didn't intend for us to be here. We were meant to end up somewhere else in this world, together. Besides that, I saw a face in the Darkness, a human face."

"There's always a human pulling the strings behind chaos," Golden Claws comments, purposely trying to piss us off. "Which one of their faces was it Palkia?"

"That's one hell of an accusation," I snap.

"It is not worth it," Risa dissuades me right away. Palkia continues as if uninterrupted, "The face was human but it wasn't an actual human, no human could drag twelve of us from this world out of our separate dimensions. I don't even think they could do that, despite their abilities," he refers to us civilly. "Returning to our worlds will be more difficult than we could've imagine. We'll have to be in these human forms for a little while longer."

"When can we go home?" the youngest one in the group pipes up. Palkia lowers his head, clenching his fist. "Tomorrow? The day after that?"

"I can't say for sure." All the Pokémon utter a groan of protest, setting aside Azelf, Mesprit, Uxie, and Cresselia, aka the mature ones.

"Without us there, the worlds will fall apart," says the yellow-marked man hovering over the couch in a laidback position. "We are the ones who keep the world's elements in check. We need to return now."

"I know but there's nothing we can do about it. I'll figure something out with Uxie," assures Palkia downheartedly. "We won't be leaving as soon as we want." He sits back down among the rest of the Pokémon and everyone's in a discouraged and pensive mood. Are they actually going to ignore us and try to deal with this themselves? Jeez, they're so stubborn. I clear my throat, bringing everyone's attention to me.

"The humans over here need to discuss something, don't mind us!" I put my arms around Risa and Mia and bend us over so they don't hear us. "Mia, do you mind keepin' them here for a bit?"

"It isn't my house, it shouldn't be a problem. There's enough space for everyone," assures Mia.

"But would it be wise to keep all of them here?" Risa asks us. "If the thing that brought them here lost them, it will do its best to get them again. Mind my language but if they all stay here in Mia's house, they will be 'sitting ducks'-"

"Aw, Risa, I'm rubbing off on you. And yeah, that's a good point."

"What do we do?" Mia wonders.

"I don't know yet but I've been thinking about their problem. I figure it'll probably be easier to get them home than it'll be for us. Our _entire worlds_ were taken but theirs is still there, you know?" Seeing Risa and Mia's dejected expressions, I add optimistically, "Hey, hey, I'm not saying it's impossible for us to go home, we just have to try a little harder. So are we all on board for getting them home?"

"Okay."

"Yes."

"Break!" our union separates and I feel everyone's judgmental eyes on us. "I'll speak on behalf of 'the humans'." I come up next Uxie, taking in a deep breath before organizing my thoughts. It'll be like presenting a project in front of your high school class Mizuki, be smooth. "So…umm…we really feel for you guys, you know? And since we basically had to fight you all to get your trust-some of it anyway-and we won so-"

"Because we are in our human forms," gripes Golden Claws.

"Ohmygod if I hear the word 'human' from any of you one more time-listen, we'll beat you up in your true forms if we have to show our dedication! I'm just sayin' that we have some experience with this, so I'll promise all of you this and I know Risa and Mia are thinking the same thing...I promise to get you all home soon," I end the nerve-wracking speech with a softer tone.

"I can only be awake for a week. Then I'll go back to sleep for a long time," Jirachi states, his cute voice bothering me this once.

"Fine, we'll try for less than a week. I don't know how yet but we will," I stroke my hair and sigh. "Oh yeah, and we don't think it's safe to hoard you all here while that thing is still after you guys so we should have some of you here with Mia, some with me, and some with Risa."

"That's a good idea," says Uxie. While I can tell some of them are uncomfortable with the idea, I quickly dispel the doubt, "Don't worry, we'll meet here every day until we can come up with an idea on how to get you guys home. How's that sound Brainiac?"

"Sounds efficient."

"Great! Three of you guys with me, four with Risa-is that cool?" I turn to her and she nods without argument. "And the rest can stay here. You can figure it all out yourselves." I return to Mia and Risa and wait for the clamor to die down. Mesprit bypasses the others and heads to Mia, holding something in her hand. "What is that?" my bluehead friend asks.

"Mia, this was under your couch. Did you lose it?" Mia accepts the heart-shaped trinket that looks like it was made by a seven-year old. She squeezes it in her palm and sighs, half-heartedly smiling at Pinkie. "Thanks, I forgot about this. I'll put it upstairs." She hurries up the stairs to her bedroom while the Pokémon look as though they've all made their decision. Palkia and the dude who reminds me of a grandpa for some odd reason-even though he's as young as his relative-get up from the carpet while Palkia says, "The two of us would like to stay with you."

"Me?" I point at myself.

"Yes. I'm Dialga and I hope we're not imposing."

"Not at all." I just have to sneak two non-humans into my room without the hotel manager finding out. "My name's Mizuki." Dialga eagerly steps over the other sitting Pokémon and holds his hand out. Formally, I shake his hand and hear my heart beat like a pounding drum, I would've dropped to the floor if I wasn't leaning against the counter. He releases my hand and stares at me in awe, making me really nervous. "What're you looking at exactly?" I ask while I side-step him.

"You want to start something?" Palkia says to Dialga, shoving him forward. Dialga snaps out of his blank reverie and vexedly gazes at him. "We can finish that battle we never finished here," replies Dialga.

"Not while I'm here," I put a stop to their minor pre-feud instantly. "If my room gets trashed because the two of you can't get along, then you'll return home in _body bags_." Jeez, if they're like this when they're together than why are they both coming along?

"Body bags?" they repeat with cross expressions. They register the phrase, break down the meaning mentally, and finally understand after thirteen seconds of an awkward silence. "Is that a threat?"

"Kidding, kidding!" I insist while I stroke my hair. "But seriously don't fight in my room."

"I'll make sure of that when you're not around," Uxie joins in sheepishly. "That's a total of three."

"Yeah," I mutter when I really want to say is, "You're too smart to be around me so please stay here." Well better him than that pissy one who's got an attitude with everyone. Mia returns from the upper floor and Mesprit asks her something I can't hear, all I can pick up is "mirror" and "Giratina". Mia nods and Mesprit gestures for Golden Claws to follow her up the staircase.

"I think going with Risa will be best for me, Groudon, and Kyogre," the Peter Pan-lookalike floats to Risa as if being rocked by an invisible hammock. "Your island is high in the sky, right below the sea, and has a suitable terrain for life."

"That is fine," agrees Risa reluctantly. She said she was cool with keeping them on Angel Island but I know Knuckles is iffy about visitors. I wonder how he's gonna handle that but I'm sure Risa will use her master persuasion skills to make him lean in the other direction. "Who is the fourth one?"

"Me if you don't mind," Azelf raises his hand and leaps over the couch. "I'd love to see this floating island-"

Glass shatters upstairs and Mesprit's plea seizes our attention, "Don't take that. It holds a lot of value to her." Golden Claws storms out of Mia's bedroom, descending the stairs while clenching his fists. I step in front of Mia protectively as he stops at the bottom step, clutching the heart-shaped trinket in his hand. The fragile, worn out plastic chain dangles out of his merciless fist. "Can you return that to me, please?" asks Mia politely.

He crushes the trinket in his hand and sprinkles the pieces all over the floor. "Was that really necessary?" I demand as Mia steps past me. Horror and ardent anger envelop her face as she walks up to the unsympathetic jerk. What if that chain was given to her by her mom or something? I'd be super pissed too.

"Why…why did you break it?" she cries out with a cracking voice.

"What're you going to do?" Giratina wonders. She stares at the pink fragments and then suddenly pounces-more like pushes since he's like a foot and a half taller than her and is pretty bulky-on the jerk. Like an angry bear cub, she beats his chest in a mad frenzy, her grunts leaving me dumbfounded. I never thought Mia was capable of actually being enraged, mad was a possibility but never this. Even the Pokémon are speechless as she punches his chest carelessly, Giratina the only one unfazed by her anger. With one last fierce grunt, she shoves him back. "Is that all?" he asks with a lack of empathy for the distraught Mia. The door slams open and Don bolts past us to get to her. "What's wrong Mia?" I'm not surprised, he would be listening at the door.

"Leave me alone, please," she leaves Don's grasp and isolates herself in the corner of the kitchen. Both Risa and Don start to follow but stop themselves when Mesprit says from the top of the staircase, "Leave her be. Her emotions are in a state of turmoil, she will naturally cool down." With a perturbed expression, she comes downstairs and speaks with the strong tone her brother Uxie has when he's explaining stuff, "Would the remaining Pokémon like to stay with Mia?"

Cresselia and Jirachi nod silently, unable to speak with the intense atmosphere choking them. The jerk turns away from our contemptible looks and doesn't answer. "Fine but that leaves Darkrai," says Mesprit. I forgot that he was watching everything happen from the farthest corner on the top floor, he really doesn't like being noticed. "What do you want?"

"To be away from everyone," replies Darkrai with melancholy.

"You need to be watched like everyone else," responds Mesprit exasperatedly.

"The immortal one can watch him," Uxie says as he faces Don. "He is the only one who cannot be affected by Darkrai's nightmare inducing abilities. He cannot fall asleep, making him the only suitable match."

"What?!" I stammer in shock, wondering why Risa and Mia aren't freaking out. "Am I the only one who didn't know?"

"It would seem so," Risa says nonchalantly. Well I understand why Mia wouldn't be surprised, he probably told her in one of their many, intimate hangout sessions and right now she's too high-strung to care. "It was his secret Mizuki, I could not tell you."

"I understand…I guess," I glance at Don who tightens his fists from Uxie's analysis. No wonder I could never guess his true age. I wanna ask if he's like some kind of vampire from a different time period 'cuz that would fill in a lot of gaps about him but now's not the time. It doesn't seem like anybody's in the mood to hear what I have to say. "Can you watch Darkrai without burying him into the ground?" questions Uxie sarcastically. Don turns his attention to Mia whose rage lingers over her like a storm cloud. He sighs wretchedly, realizing he can't get through to her tonight. "I can do that," he says harshly. He stares at Giratina with the scariest, most vicious glare I ever saw Don give someone and warns him, "I will kill you if you hurt Mia, piece of shit." Giratina blankly gazes at Don as the immortal teenager storms out.

"Thank you," Mesprit sounds like an exhausted parent who has had to deal with unruly children all day. "Everyone can leave now. We will meet again tomorrow at five in the evening, get to your destinations safely. Uxie, Azelf, I need you two for a moment."

J.G.P.


	12. Savior

"See you tomorrow," Mizuki waves to me as she and her Pokémon, excluding Uxie, march down the unlit path.

"See you." The new moon hides the beauty of the blossoms and plants that decorate Mia's little house. A summer night breeze shakes the branches from the trees as I blank out at the starry sky. Is Clancy up there watching me or is he somewhere else? What happens to the people whose hearts are casted into the sky from the Keyblade? "Risa," Rayquaza breaks my somber reverie.

"Huh?"

"I hate repeating myself. I said I can't bring all of you to Angel Island all at once, not in this form anyway. So what do we do?" I clear my throat and think to myself for a little while. From what I recall Rayquaza made it clear that Groudon and Kyogre should always be distant from each other, it would be a problem if Rayquaza took them simultaneously. "How long can Kyogre be out of water?" I ask.

"About fifteen minutes."

"She should be taken care of first. Can you fly her and Azelf to Angel Island while Groudon and I get a head start? We will meet you in the northern part of the city."

"Where is the midget?"

Groudon, Rayquaza, and I look up to the sound of the sliding door opening above us. Giratina sits down while watching us indifferently and the triplets surround him with unpleasant countenances. "Sorry but we have to ensure you don't try anything else," Mesprit tells him while she and the other two put their hands over him. The red gems on their heads glow as bright as the Master Emerald on a sunny day. Giratina's arms and legs tense up as if being bound by chains but his expression remains as blank as paper while the three of them do something I cannot figure out. The gems' lights fade and Azelf and Uxie hop over the bannister, landing a few inches away from us. "See you tomorrow!" they chime.

"Yeah," Mesprit waves back at us pleasantly as she returns inside. Uxie excitedly sprints past us to catch up with Mizuki. Azelf turns his attention to us and Rayquaza briefly informs him of what we are going to do, to which Azelf shrugs nonchalantly. Rayquaza hovers up to the balcony, disregarding Giratina completely and vice versa, and quickly comes back with Kyogre in one arm. "I can't even say goodbye to Mia?"

"You'll see her tomorrow, this isn't permanent," snaps Rayquaza as he drops to the ground. "Shortie, let's go."

"There's no need to be rude," says Azelf as he lets Rayquaza scoop him up in his other arm. The three of them take off into the moonless sky and zoom towards the city's direction. I guess he already memorized how to get to Angel Island from here. "Are we going or what? I wanna see this island of yours," states Groudon eagerly.

"Yeah." As we leave Mia's house, I cannot help but look up at the dark sky as we stroll down the abandoned street. I feel Groudon's gaze on me and I ignore it until we are halfway to the city. "What is the matter? Did you not want to walk?"

"Do you think that you're our savior?" she blurts out unexpectedly. "Do you think that you're so high and mighty since you beat Rayquaza that you have to save us?"

"I am doing what I feel is the right thing to do."

"You have a problem."

"What is it?"

"You think you can save everyone."

"I know I can," I reply steadfastly as we approach the interior of the city. "That is why Mizuki made our promise to bring you back to your world. Do you have a problem with it?" She folds her arms and makes an unpleasant facial expression. Everything about her reminds me of Knuckles, tenacious, abrasive, and doubtful of everyone. She and him might make fast friends if Knuckles is willing to let them stay on the island. "Hmm, it's disturbing," surmises Groudon finally. I notice people staring at the two of us as if they realized we are essentially aliens from other worlds. Some people recognize me as one of the heroes of Metropolis but now the attention is at a minimum. That is a good thing, the last thing I need while taking care of non-humans is to bring unwanted attention to them. "Why is it disturbing?"

"What're you going to do if we can't be saved?" That is impossible, the new promises that I made cannot be broken like my first one with Clancy's was. "Are you that afraid to let one of us fall?"

"You are pessimistic for no reason. Nothing bad will happen to anyone," I reassure the muscular woman. Is she that afraid? "I used to think the same thing when I landed in this world. You are in capable hands." She suddenly pulls me to the corner and shoves me against a brick wall. "What are you doing?"

"You don't understand, do you? I'm telling you that we're going to be recaptured again, it's inevitable. The earth has told me of the long, sharp black hands that destroy. _They will seize us again_," she states urgently. "You won't be able to protect us forever."

"Do not say things like that," I duck out of her forceful gaze. "Will you put me down? People are looking and you are already famous for the park incident."

"You can't save us all. Once you get that through your head you'll be better off," concludes Groudon, dropping me abruptly. Why is she saying this, of course I can save everyone. She is speaking out of fear and that is all, I am the wielder of the Keyblade and my mother's chosen one. Breaking another promise and losing more lives is a path I cannot and will not cross.

I bring Groudon to an abandoned street in North Metropolis, where nobody should see Rayquaza swooping down to get us. North Metropolis, the business district of the humongous Westopolis, is practically empty when the sun goes down. I look up to the sky, searching for the flying man for me to signal. He could be anywhere up here, this city is a maze to him. Groudon's scream to signal Rayquaza astonishes me but I do not comment on it. Her viewpoint on me and the situation deeply upsets me and bringing it up will upset me further. "Ignoring me because I'm telling you the truth?" assumes Groudon. I indifferently shrug while I sit on the trashy curb, gazing at the melted ice cream and plastic bags lingering here. The bags flutter in the wind and I hear Groudon clap her hands satisfactorily. "It's about time."

"Your small, red friend wants to talk to you about us," says Rayquaza while I stare at the trash blowing in the wind. "Look at me when I'm talking to you."

"I heard you," I snap unintentionally, obeying him nonetheless. "Tell Knuckles this was my choice."

"Isn't that what_you're_ going to do?"

"You should bring her to Angel Island and give Knuckles my message," the attitude in my tone cannot be coated with false words and a fake façade, "I will walk to Angel Island." Being keenly aware of my morose attitude, I catch Rayquaza narrowing his eyes at me as he takes his obstinate stance. "Are you being a sore loser? Just bring her to the island."

"What's your problem? Let me-"

"You two are endangering each other by arguing with me," I sink my head in between my hands. "I told you to go already." He finally obeys and leaves me alone on the curb to reflect on Groudon's words. "Of course I can save everyone," I mutter aloud with a deep sigh. Since the Clancy incident, I have trained each day so I could become closer to fulfilling my promise. Why does that woman remind me that this situation can go awry at any moment? I do not need to hear that, I will be their savior whether they want me to or not, I cannot leave a trail of shattered promises leading to me. There are already broken pieces from Clancy's-do not think about that. I get on my feet and head down the end of the street as a noisy truck drives by. _Wow, that thing is huge! They don't have this at home,_Clancy would have said if he was beside me. I fold my arms and hug myself as I lean against a store window, Clancy's laughter and his smile returning to me like a spiteful trash I tried throwing away. This situation is not about him, it has nothing to do with him…but perhaps it does.

I could not save my closest friend from the Darkness, what kind of person does that make me? What makes me think I can save these Pokémon from the Darkness as well? Clouds thicken in the sky as I sink to the ground. Protecting and watching over Clancy was the most important thing in the world to me, now what do I have? A gust of wind blows my hood down while someone overshadows me. "You're taking too long," his familiar tone removes the weight from my head but I still keep my head down. "And it doesn't look like you're walking there." I stand up and brush past Rayquaza coldly, going in the direction of Central Metropolis. "You liked flying, what's the issue now?"

"I like walking too," I answer with a shrug. He hovers in front of me and blocks every one of my attempts to pass him. "What?"

"You should show your face more often," he closes in on me and I cover my hood with a quiet gasp. "Your friends don't care about showing their faces."

"They have different faces from mine," I mumble as I caress my scratched-up cheek. "What are you doing here?"

"Giving you a ride. I can tell you're not happy," Rayquaza observes as he drops himself to street level. "Your small, red friend is also not pleased with us." I let out a sigh of relief as Clancy leaves my mind alone for this moment.

"Fine, let us go to Angel Island."

' ' '

As Rayquaza stated earlier, Knuckles is fuming about the surplus guests on the island. He lightens up when I explain that they are being hunted by a creature but refuses to have them in close proximity of the Master Emerald. "I doubt they care, those guys are strong and do not need it," I affirm as I think back to my fight with Rayquaza, Mia's battle where I intervened, and Mizuki's troubling scuffle. "They will be my responsibility. Everything they do will be on me. Expenses counted. How does that sound?"

"Even food?"

"Even food."

"Fine but that includes me too! Going to the city is a pain sometimes," complains Knuckles as he isolates himself from the roaming Pokémon. Rayquaza remains flying in the sky like a restless fish in the sea, Groudon inspects every inch of land on my side of the island, and Azelf is staring at the Master Emerald curiously. I merrily head down the steps to Azelf and whisper, "Knuckles is not comfortable with you looking at the gem. Please focus your eyes somewhere else." He breaks his beady-eyed gaze and looks at my sleeves.

"I'm sorry, I am in awe of this island," marvels Azelf, the stars twinkling in his eyes. "I never thought that in another dimension there would be something like this. Do you want to sit with me for a moment?"

"Sure," I follow him to the edge where Clancy and I almost casted away the Master Emerald from the island. I sure was foolish back then to believe what he said about _"making the Master Emerald better than it was"_. The two of us would have been killed by Knuckles if I had gone through with that. "…don't you agree?"

"Y-yes."

"You didn't hear me did you?"

"Sorry, I did not."

"That's okay. I said that the people I've met since I came here have incredible willpowers," remarks the beady-eyed child. "I never would've thought that people outside my world would have the determination to do things and yet you and your friends exist. Yours is one of the strongest."

"Oh really?" I modestly reply, peering closely at the colorless sea below. Someone jumps out of the water like a flying fish and dives back in, most likely Kyogre. "No need to be humble Risa, it's the truth. It's hard for someone like you to have the will to do things with that stigma restricting you." My stomach is thrown into a loop as I grip my left arm. "You're left-handed right?"

"How would you know?" I stutter while I feel myself shrinking away from the omniscient child.

"I'm the Pokémon of willpower, I can sense the things inhibiting you. Can I see it?" Tentatively, I lift my sleeve and Azelf takes my arm, analyzing the willow tree wrapped in chains and surrounded by circles tattooed on my shoulder. "You should be thankful for this."

"Thankful?!" I shout as he releases my arm. "I can never be thankful for this, this tattoo has brought nothing but misery and pain. This tattoo is a daily reminder that I can never attain the free will everyone else has, a reminder of my father's loathing for me, a reminder that what I truly want does not matter to anyone!" When I realize that I am literally yelling in the young child's face, I hastily apologize.

"You have a right to harbor hatred for your curse but without it, you wouldn't have become ambidextrous," he notes as if that is supposed to mean anything.

"So?"

"Imagine a tree that can reach into the heavens. There is an adult who has the average body for a man and then there is a younger man whose legs are paralyzed, both want to climb the tree that can reach into the heavens. Which one will make it?" inquires Azelf, looking to the pitch-black horizon as if there is a tree sprouting into the sky. "The young cripple or the average man?"

"The cripple would not be able to climb, the healthy man would," I answer matter-of-factly. Azelf faintly smiles at me while standing up to stretch his arms. He yawns loudly while taking off his light blue jacket. "Are you going to enlighten me with the answer?"

"I don't need to," says Azelf. "I'll tell you this though, the paralyzed man would try harder right?"

"So I am the paralyzed man?"

"The answer will reveal itself to you. And this body gets fatigued so easily."

"What a strange transition."

"Good night Risa." I wave to the uncanny boy and let my shoes dangle over the edge. I have not used my left hand since I learned how to write, what a strange thing for him to know. It used to be my sword hand too, but ever since the tattoo got branded on my arm, I learned to use my right hand to do everything. How can I think of this hideous stigma as a blessing? That child has had a long day that makes him unfit to assume these things.

When I lay my head down next to the colossal gemstone, everything is a lot noisier than before. Everyone except Azelf is snoring and it is making it hard to bring myself to fall asleep. I wait for the snoring to get louder and then sneak to the other end of the island while stepping over Rayquaza and Azelf, and tripping over Groudon. She made herself at home quickly despite her pessimistic attitude earlier, she doesn't move an inch. I reach the ruins, close my eyes and get on my knees. "I have never seen so many people on the island. I have to get used it to it until I get them back to their world. One of them can fly Clancy, I flew with him today. You would have really liked it. Good night." I bow my head for a couple of seconds and then return to the other end of the island. After laying my head down on the cool altar floor, I manage to fall asleep through all the snoring, the cicadas, and the chirping crickets.

Azelf is standing over me when I wake up, the summer sun blazing in the distance. Everyone's snores block out the various insect noises of the summer season. "What is the matter?" I mumble as I rub my eyes and briefly stretch my legs and arms out.

"You're going to have to help me wake up the others," he says cheerfully. I stand up, pushing my hips out and bending backwards to stretch out my back. "They want to train you but all they do is sleep."

"Train me?" I heartily follow him down the steps.

"Yes, they wouldn't stop going on about your marvelous abilities to control nature around us. Groudon said you were still underdeveloped, Kyogre was excited, and Rayquaza was more than willing to teach you everything he knew. I guess your willpower inspired them, even the arrogant dragon likes you, it would seem.

"Interesting."

"What do you say to that?" he asks merrily.

"Fine by me," I reply coolly, thankful that my hood cannot reveal my flushed cheeks.

J.G.P.


	13. The Pokémon of Odium, Giratina

I made that cheap chain for Seth a long time ago, I didn't think I would still be so attached to it. He held on to that plastic thing for our entire friendship and when he strolled down the path of Darkness, it came back to me. I forgot about it until Mesprit found it, it brought back old feelings that I didn't want. "Mia trusted you to go into her room and not only did you lie about your true intentions, you destroyed something dear to her," Mesprit berates him, her bright ruddy hair whishing with every bob of her head. "We're going to be here for a while, how do we know you won't sneak around and do something worse while we sleep?"

This would've been more embarrassing if everyone was still in here, I'm a little glad they all left, I don't like being around people when I'm angry. "You don't," Giratina answers frankly. I turn my back to him while unclenching my fists. The punches hurt me more than it did him and I was well aware that he wouldn't be hurt by them. Maybe Mizuki's right, I am too nice to mean people. "Human. Do you hate me?"

I hesitate before I answer, "No."

"We can't let you roam here if you're going to do hazardous things on your own accord," Uxie intervenes. "Please come with us upstairs. The gravity of our situation gives us no time to continuously deal with your nonsense." I hear them all go upstairs and I let out an exhausted sigh. Look at all the fuss this stupid chain caused, I'd better clean it up. After sweeping it into the dustpan, I examine the broken pieces sadly, remembering all the times I clung to it, all the times it reminded me that I wasn't alone anymore, and that for once I had a friend to rely on. I dump them in the trash tentatively and then face Cresselia and Jirachi, watching me with silent wariness. "I'm really sorry about all that. I'm not like this all the time," I stutter. "How are you guys doing?"

"We're fine but our stomachs hurt," says Cresselia with a sheepish smile. Jirachi pokes his head from behind the couch boldly. "Food! Food!"

"Do you have any preferences?"

"Food!" demands Jirachi as Cresselia strokes his thick, unkempt hair back. I turn to the cabinets and take out three boxes of _Easy to Make Pasta_, smiling faintly at them. "You guys might like these."

Soon after Uxie and Azelf left with Mizuki and Risa, only Mesprit came down to join us for dinner. The way everyone is chowing down on the Fusilli is as if they've never had food before. It might be an offensive question to ask so I'll just finish my plate. "This is one of the best things I've ever tasted," remarks Mesprit, mouth filled with pasta.

"So good!" agrees Jirachi. I didn't think he would like it since he spent fifteen minutes grimacing at the steam rising from the hot plate. He went on and on about how he hated tea, hot chocolate, soup, and just about everything that's supposed to be hot.

"Mmm-hmm," nods Cresselia.

"It's nothing that great," I brush off the compliments as I glance at the full plate of Fusilli on the counter. "Hey, where's Giratina?"

"He's upstairs sulking. My brothers and I thought that restraining him would be the best thing to do," replies Mesprit with a pout. "We have to ensure that he won't give our position away to the enemy with black hands with his reckless behavior. If you had continued your fight he would have reverted to his true form." I feel Mesprit's eyes on me when I look down at my empty plate. "Don't feel so guilty Mia, it was his fault. I thought by letting him get the mirror it would make him feel a little at ease but he already knew he couldn't return to his world from here."

"Mia do you wanna make a wish?" Jirachi blurts out, Parmesan cheese covering his lips.

"Wha?"

"Jirachi is a wish Pokémon. He can…" I tune Cresselia out while my guilty conscience chews me out. I at the very least owe Giratina an apology, even if he did have the intention of killing me a few hours ago. To some extent, I think I can understand why he acts the way he does. "I'll bring up his plate."

"Whatever makes you feel good," Mesprit shrugs. I take his plate from the counter and hurry up the stairs. "He's out on the balcony." That's my least favorite part of the house, but I'll suck it up. I step into the bedroom and turn on the light; the mirror Mesprit told me about reposes on the floor, I guess like Mesprit said earlier, he wouldn't be able to use the mirror to return to his world so he got frustrated. While avoiding the broken glass, I open the sliding door and clear my throat. "Umm, hello. I brought dinner." He remains seated and scrunched up in the corner of the balcony while I place the plate by his feet. "I'm sorry about...punching you. I got a little bit emotional over something-trivial. Sorry, again." I leave him to think to himself and return to the dinner table. "He didn't say anything did he?" asks Mesprit.

"No. I guess he really hates me," I say sulkily.

"I guess the two of us should chat." With a look from Mesprit, Cresselia takes Jirachi's hand and brings him out of the dining room. "Where are we going? Is she going to make a wish?"

"Not now but you and I are going to count the pretty stars in the sky."

"But it's so hot outside. I don't like it when it's hot."

"It's cooler outside...and there are so many pretty stars out there. Come, come!" All I hear for three minutes is Jirachi's elated chant "pretty stars, pretty stars, pretty stars," before they head outside. I place the finished plates and silverware in the sink and face Mesprit anxiously. "You want to chat?"

"Yes, about Giratina. He comes from a world called the Distortion World and it's the opposite world of the 'normal' world. My brothers and I are in charge of making sure him, Dialga, and Palkia stay in their own worlds and keep calm, but that's beside the point," she plops on the couch as if the words have already exhausted her. "Giratina doesn't get himself involved with anything or anyone unless his precious Distortion World is in danger. You can imagine how he feels being thrust into a new world where he's forced to be around other Pokémon, including his closer 'relatives'. He is our keeper of balance and refers to you as one because of your Twilight. He's miffed because you're letting your doubts ruin your 'scale'. Makes sense so far?"

"Yeah now that I think about it," I sit next to her, biting my bottom lip. Pokémon are smarter than I first assumed, smart enough to read me like a book it would seem.

"He's spent many millenniums alone in the Distortion World, which has contributed to his social ineptitude."

"What does that mean?"

"Socially inept means unsuitable and inappropriate interactions with others. To make it worse, he has already assumed you and everyone else detests him." explains Mesprit. "I have a feeling you can relate to the last part, right?" With a heavy heart and a sad frown, I nod. "Mia, do you consider yourself to be an angry person?"

"If that has to do with what happened earlier, I'm sorry," I stammer and fiddle with my fingers. "I'm never that mad, it's just-"

"I know," she looks at me intriguingly. "You're not used to being angry, you just bottle everything inside and endure everything with benevolence and a smile. That charm he broke was the tipping point for you. Your natural compassion and the genuine relationships that you share with your friends are fascinating to Giratina. He wants to understand them but it's frustrating for him."

"Why don't you talk to him more if you know all of this about him?" I wonder, remembering all the years I spent hating myself and everyone on the island before I met Seth. I knew I was right about Giratina, he's like me. "And how _do_ you know all this?"

"It's complicated, each of us have our realm to govern," she shrugs with a little laugh. "I'm the emotion Pokémon, I'm aware of feelings of the heart. Now enough of that, tell me why you like Don." My cheeks flush and my seat on the couch suddenly warms up, which causes her to giggle. Although Mizuki teases me about it relentlessly, hearing it from someone I just met makes me feel…weird. "Your generous kindness to the people around you, even the ones that wrong you, is fascinating to me too, to be honest. But anyway, tell me about Don!"

"I didn't always like him, he was cold to me most of the time. I thought he hated me but I learned he was hurting like me, maybe worse than me. He was lonely too and I wanted to be friends with him but it was really hard and took forever! Then one day I realized something, every time I woke up feeling hurt and in pain he was with me and that's happened a lot of times. So umm, yeah."

"That's very sweet, Mia. From a brief glance I saw that he's been suffering for most of his immortal life. Someone dear to him must've died or maybe it's the anniversary?" the young redhead leans back and stares gloomily at the ceiling. "I forget you poor humans have burdens of the heart to carry."

"The anniversary…?" I wonder aloud.

"By the way where am I sleeping? Mia?"

"Oh, sorry. My head was wandering." I get up from the couch and ask, "Do you mind sharing the bed with me? Cresselia and Jirachi can share the guest room, and Giratina can be on the couch."

"Fine with me. I'm getting sleepy anyway." I bring her to my room, help her undress, and give her a huge tee to sleep in. Cresselia comes in and borrows another shirt for Jirachi who is quietly passed out on her. "If you don't mind me asking, is he your child?"

"Not at all. We're from separate regions but ever since I woke him up he's been attached to my hip," whispers the graceful woman. I can see why I confused her for my mom in my dream, they both have that serene, natural beauty, although Mom looked sterner than Cresselia. "I'm like a mother to him."

"Yeah," I turn to Giratina, his back to the sliding door and in the same curled-up position I left him. "Is he going to bed soon?"

"He doesn't sleep much," states Mesprit while opening the sliding door to let in the cool drafts, ignoring Giratina completely. "Consider him on guard duty."

"Pleasant dreams to you two." Cresselia and the drooling child slumped over her shoulder leave us. Mesprit and I climb into bed, letting the night breezes cool us off in the muggy bedroom. The little girl falls fast asleep, the ordeal she went through today must've been hard on her. The night I stumbled upon this house I passed out as if I had never slept before. I have to try my hardest to return her and the others back home, no matter the cost; I turn to face Giratina's back, pondering about Mesprit's analysis of his behavior. I would've eventually ended up like him, distrustful, quarrelsome, and "socially inept" if I hadn't met Mizuki and Risa, the people who remind me every day why I'm fighting:_to protect those who matter and to return home._

I wake up feeling really good, sweaty but refreshed. Because of Darkrai's Dark Void, I thought I would've had another horrifying nightmare but I had nothing but a sweet slumber. I cautiously slip out of bed and look out the sliding doors to dawn's sky-reminds me of being at home, waiting in bed for the sun to rise. I tippy-toe towards the door and skulk by Giratina, legs scrunched up to his chest, head on knees, and burly arms wrapped around his legs. When I curiously step in front of him, I meet his crimson eyes and almost squeak as I reel back to the railing. I take in a few deep breaths and stammer softly, "I'm so sorry, I thought you were sleeping. Did you sleep at all?"

"I don't sleep," he answers steadfastly. I glance at the full plate of food swarmed with flies and get it in my room quickly. The flies follow it inside but I'll deal with them later. "Why?" I ask.

He stays silent, his face fixed in a pensive expression. "Do you eat?"

Still no answer.

"You're human for a little while, you have to eat and sleep-and bathe."

"Does those things affect you?"

"Huh?"

"Does my lack of participation in human activities affect you?"

"Uh, yes." I sit next to him, the breeze brushing up against me like a halcyon wave drenching me in ice-cold water during a Moonlight Town midsummer afternoon. "The morning breeze always feels good in the summer time. I only wish I was at home to enjoy it. You're lucky you know." He narrows his eyes and I hastily explain, "I don't mean you're in a lucky situation. I mean you have a home to return to and I don't. I've been here for almost a year now...I'm sure you'll get home faster."

"Why did you come out here?" he asks.

"To see if you were sleeping-"

"Why does my wellbeing affect you?"

"Why are you so selfish?" His eyes widen and then trail off into the sky. Realizing how mean that came out, I mutter guiltily, "I'm sorry. I meant to say...something else. S-sorry." I fold my legs and stare at my long toenails insecurely for a while.

"Is caring for oneself considered selfish?" Giratina asks angrily. He's not like this out of ill-will, remember? That's just what he's used to. I should be more understanding with him if we're going to be under the same roof for a while. "I want to sincerely apologize about what I did to you last night. It was uncalled for, I was really upset about what you did," I sadly fiddle with my thumbs. "I hope you can forgive me."

"Do you hate me?" asks Giratina. "For breaking your object of sentimental value."

"You asked me this before and I said no."

"I wanted to inflict great harm to you yesterday," Giratina says in hollow tone, adding some weight to those words. "Can you still say you don't loathe me?" I bite my lip and look away from him. I heave a sigh and lean back on my hands.

"That's right," I assure him, which causes him to stare at me peculiarly. "It sounds silly but I don't think I can truly hate anyone, not after being hated myself for such a long time. Even if you broke my stupid charm, said some mean words, and anything else." Giratina's face is hard to read, he could be shocked, still angry, or bothered, but I don't think he's as apathetic as his usual expression tells me. "I'm kinda glad you broke it anyway."

"Glad?"

"Yeah, that charm carried a lot of the old me. Whenever I was feeling sad I would pour all those bad feelings into it," I stop stammering and finally speak assuredly. "It was my most precious thing in the world and I gave it to someone who was my best friend a long time ago. He carried it around every day," I chuckle softly. "And then when we got to this world, he gave it back to me and abandoned me here."

"Why?" I look at him, slightly surprised that he's interested. "Did he hate you?"

"I think he grew to hate me." I silently recall how Seth was when we were in Moonlight Town. I could never keep up with his avid discussions about Moonlight Town's pollution or how Moonlight Town should invest their resources in something else besides building factories. Seth was way more selfish than Giratina. "Sometimes I think I could end up like him, someone who's drowning in their fears and uses Darkness to tell himself otherwise. You and Mesprit told me I could be leaning more towards the Darkness."

"By manipulating Darkness, one maintains balance," he says aloofly. We sit in silence for a couple of minutes, the awkward peace between us remains undisturbed. Surprisingly, Giratina is the one to break the silence, "Do you hate the Darkness?"

"No, it's a part of me," I answer with a weak chuckle. "What about you?"

"It is a part of me as well."

"I'm glad to hear it," I yawn loudly and stretch my legs out. "And uh, you don't have to stay out on the balcony all the time. You can make yourself at home here."

"Uxie, Mesprit, and Azelf have forbade me," gripes Giratina. "They have bounded me in this uncomfortable position for the duration of my stay here in light of recent events."

"I'll ask Mesprit to undo that when she gets up," I assure him while trying not to think about what those three kids could have done to him.

"Why?"

"I want you to be comfortable. How else are you going to sleep?"

"I don't sleep," he says as if the fact's been carved in stone. "I must keep watch over the Distortion World, sleep doesn't come to me." That explains the puffy, red bags under Giratina's eyes, he looks as though he's never shut his eyes for more than an hour.

"When I was little and couldn't sleep, my mom would hum a lullaby to me, you should uh-hum to yourself, or sing-"

"Can we play?" I feel a tug on my t-shirt and I turn to the drowsy Jirachi.

"It's really early, don't you want to wait?"

"No!" He shakes his head fervently while wiping his eyes.

"Shhhh, you'll wake everyone else up. And if you want me to play with you, I need you to clean up that plate inside and wait for breakfast." The rules please him as he eagerly picks up the plate Giratina left untouched and sprints out of my bedroom. "Have a good morning," I whisper to Giratina as I head for the bathroom.

After brushing my teeth and showering, I run downstairs to feed Jirachi two buttered slices of bread-he insisted that it be untoasted-and refrigerator cold apple juice. While he's eating I notice that on the back of his shirt he has three blank, teal tags that move whenever he does. Now that I think about it, he is the strangest looking one out of the bunch but seems to be the most innocent and oblivious one. It can't be helped, he's practically a baby. "Can we play now before it gets really hot?" he asks while getting off his chair, then pulls me to the door.

"Uh yeah, I guess we can. But only for a little while!"

When the morning sun is high in the cerulean sky, I sprint after Jirachi as he takes off down the empty street. He's laughing like a child who's never done either of those things before, I wish I was as happy as he is when I was little. "I'm catching up!" I declare proudly as I'm nearly within his shirt's reach. His little pale feet are like chopsticks trying to gallop. I told him we'd play for a little while but we've played hide-and-seek and tag for almost three hours. I can't help but grin as I scoop him up and hold him in both my arms, "Gotcha again!"

"Woooaaah!" He laughs in such a high-pitched tone that I'm afraid he's going to hurt himself. I put him down and fan myself with the bottom of my shirt. "Again?" I ask him.

"Again!" agrees Jirachi with a toothy grin. "I'm it this time."

"That's right, betcha can't catch me," I dash down the street and then stop when I realize I don't hear Jirachi's little feet chasing after me.

"Mia!" I'm about to ask the pale little boy "What's the matter?" but I spot two figures coming towards us. As they get closer I make them out to be Darkrai and Don. "Good morning guys, what're you doing here so early?" I left Don in a shaky spot last night, I was worried he and Darkrai might get into it again but they look fresh and-perturbed? "What's going on?"

"I'm sorry about what happened yesterday," Darkrai speaks first, lowering his scarf so that his words aren't muffled. "You were not supposed to get caught in Dark Void."

"It's fine, I know it was an accident," I reassure him. I'm dying to ask if he's hot wearing those clothes but it seems like he's comfortable wearing those thick layers. I feel Jirachi hugging my hip while trying to hide himself from the darkly-dressed boys. "Don, are you okay?" his face is fixed in a strained expression and his fingers keep curling out of impulse.

"I came to apologize," splutters Don, summing up the courage to finally look at me. "For yesterday and everything else…"

"Everything else?" Don hesitates to Darkrai's annoyance. The cloaked young man casually punches Don in the face, making Jirachi cling tighter to my shorts. "Stop being a coward," says Darkrai quietly. Don stands straight, miffed but unharmed by the punch.

"I'm sorry for treating you like shit Mia."

"You don't-"

"I took my anger out on you for what happened to Angelica," he pauses before saying her name. "I've always done that to you, I've used you as my punching bag for a long time. You forgave me for everything and gave me a second chance-I'm always grateful for that."

"W-where's all this coming from?" I ask, completely abashed.

"Don informed me of past events," says Darkrai. "I came to apologize and I made him join me."

"It wasn't necessary," I reassure with a little chuckle. "Tell me Don, did yesterday have to do with Angelica's death since it's around that time?" He remains deathly silently, making me regret bringing it up. His face scrunches up as if he's trying to stop himself from yelling. "Sorry I-"

Don takes off without a word, leaving a frowning Darkrai with me. He covers his mouth with his scarf and strolls after him. "I really shouldn't have said that," I say to myself aloud.

"Can we play now?" Jirachi's shyness instantly vanishes when Darkrai does. "The scary ones are gone!"

"Maybe later."

J.G.P.


	14. Omniscient Pokémon Really Suck

The city streets are filled with people rushing home, street vendors trying to make ends meet, and fashionistas attending the latest high-rise apartment parties. In the midst of it all, there's the motley crew of other worldly visitors, aka us. "What did you do to Giratina?" I ask when I remember his violent behavior. I feel bad Mia's gotta be the one to put up with him, he's gonna bully her like crazy. If I were her I'd give him a good enough beat down so that he wouldn't even think of looking at me.

"I paralyzed him," says Uxie as if normal children injure grown men's spinal cords on a daily basis.

"Woah that's a bit extreme! I don't like him and how he treated Mia but come on," I respond fervently. "Are you gonna paralyze me if I don't listen to you guys too?"

"You're assumption is wrong-"

"How's it wrong?"

"Are you familiar with the sensation of when you unintentionally cut off communication from your brain to a certain part of the body that you've put prolonged pressure on?"

"What? Speak English please."

"I'm speaking the proper language, it's a matter of you not comprehending me," replies Uxie with an innuendo of vexation. This kid is always taking what I say literally. "In your vernacular, it's 'having your legs on pins and needles.' Azelf, Mesprit, and I have done that but to his entire body with our extrasensory abilities, to discourage any rambunctious behavior."

"He deserves it," Dialga comments happily while Palkia nods in agreement.

"I think so too, now that you put it like that," I reply quietly while I ponder about what kind of "people" I've involved myself with. They're the kind of creatures that can drag people into different worlds, people who can fly as fast as jet planes, the kind of things that can telekinetically toss people around like rag dolls, and the kind of things that can paralyze people with little effort. I pull in front of the group of Pokémon getting odd looks from passing citizens. Fortunately I've scared everyone into not doing the whole celebrity thing to me, so we won't get unwanted attention. "Something troubling you Mizuki?" Uxie wonders. "Your body language tells me you're anxious. Is this related to Giratina?"

"Ha, of course not! What do I have to be anxious for? No anxiety here," I insist while stroking my hair.

"The fact that you're surrounded by three powerful non-humans is alarming to you?"

"Of course not! I got over that."

"Are you wary of us?" Palkia asks while joining my side. "You're sweating profusely."

"It's summer, duh. I just wanna make it to the hotel where air conditioning is waiting for me," I lie as I speed-walk along the populated sidewalk and comb my oily scalp with my fingers. These two Pokémon were the ones who wouldn't keep their eyes off me after my battle with Azelf, what do they want with me? I didn't do anything to them so why follow me? Not to mention Uxie's knowledge of _friggen' everything_ scares the living crap out of me. "I'm not nervous about nothin' okay? Look around, take in all the sights of city before they're gone!" Being alone in a room with all of them at once will be too much for me. "Once we get to the hotel I'll go get us something to eat," I forcefully chuckle.

"I saved some donuts and croissants you gave my siblings earlier, it should be more than enough," affirms Uxie smugly, aware of my true intention.

"I'm not eating pocket food," I argue with my arms crossed. "I'll get us fresh food alright?"

"Mizuki are you trying to avoid us?" he replies earnestly.

"You weren't afraid of us before," Dialga joins my other side to further antagonize me.

"You really wanted to help us out, you were pretty insistent," Uxie adds, making me feel shittier. "Why are you nervous all of a sudden?"

"Listen, you guys are all-powerful thingys and I'm just...just trying to get back home. I don't know," I stop to face all of them. "I meant what I said at Mia's house but this is gonna be really hard you know."

"We understand the gravity of the situation and personally, I think you made a foolish decision in promising something like that," Uxie scolds me lightly. "Gathering us would've been enough."

"I disagree," Palkia interrupts. I shoot him a befuddled look as I move all of us to the side where we're not in people's ways. "From what I witnessed earlier, you might be very beneficial to returning us home."

"For once, I agree with him," concurs Dialga.

"If both of them agree then I must no longer be doubtful," states Uxie as I remain confused.

"What do you mean?" I ask worriedly yet I'm excited about what they'll say next.

"It's safer to talk about it privately. The world order shouldn't be disrupted," replies Palkia, making me more panicky. As we rush into the more populated part of the city, I start feeling claustrophobic. What kind of life-changing discussion could I possibly have with these omniscient Pokémon? I'm so afraid that they're gonna tell me something I don't wanna know and make me get soul-searchy and whatnot, I really hate getting soul-searchy! But I made that promise to all of them, I can't just cover my ears and tune out everything they say.

In twenty-two minutes exactly, we reach my hotel without getting too much attention. The blonde lady at the lobby doesn't ask any questions about the extra guests 'cuz she knows I'll rub in her face that I saved the world. "Not very spacious," observes Palkia when I unlock my door. There are clothes, some old and a lot new, lying on the floor, the bed sheets look like ice cream swirled out of a machine, and my shoes are everywhere, no further elaboration necessary. "For one person it's enough," says Uxie as he "looks" around. "It could be cleaner."

"I didn't expect guests, jeez. How you can you see everything anyway?" I walk towards the bed, smooth out the sheets, and then toss two pillows on the clothes-free parts of the carpet right after stockpiling my shoes by the closet. "Your eyes are always closed. Oh wait, it's 'cuz you're a psychic Pokémon right?"

"I told you already, you don't need to have eyes to see the world," replies Uxie humbly. "And yes, you're correct. Here, there's enough pastries in my pockets for everyone here." He hands us dry biscuits and croissants, making me wonder how he managed to stuff it in his clothes like a chipmunk storing nuts. "Dialga and Palkia are very eager to talk to you. I'm going to look around if you don't mind."

"Yeah whatever," I wave Uxie away while I lean against the bed frame. "What do you want to know?"

"How did you get to this world?" Palkia asks first, his eyebrows furrowed as he noisily chews on the biscuit. I sigh, putting my hands behind my head as I remember my miserable life in Tokyo before I got here. And things only got shittier from there. "Monsters called the Heartless came to my world and destroyed it-"

"Heartless only eat the hearts of worlds, they can't destroy them," corrects Palkia like a schoolmaster. "But you knew that already, you're a smart one or that's what Uxie's said. Why did you say 'destroy'?"

"It might as well be destroyed, there's no way to get back home. I've spent forever and a half here!" I mope while breaking eye contact with the purple interrogator. "If I said that I'd be lying a little, I still think there's some way to get back home but the idea is far-fetched," I bite into the crusty croissant, chewing it for a good forty-seconds before swallowing it. The two Pokémon stare me down as if I had committed a heinous crime while Uxie maunders in the bathroom. "What does it matter to you anyway? We should be thinking about how to get you all home." I hold the pastry with my teeth, ensuring that I'll stay quiet.

Dialga breaks the tension with a hearty chuckle, "Perhaps you're being a little too intimidating Brother." Palkia scowls at him as he backs away from the bed. Dialga takes a seat on the pillow I tossed on the floor and puts down the croissant. "Humans refer to me as the Temporal Pokémon, do you know what that means?"

"Mm-mm," I shake my head and have another bite, licking the remainders of the first bite off my gums. Palkia mimics Dialga, sitting on the other side and impatiently tapping his finger on the carpet. "It means _pertaining to time_. I hold power over time itself, though my power is minuscule here. I was aware of your power when you fought with Azelf, you attempted to bring time to a stand-still. How did you gain my power?"

"It came from my mom," I answer sheepishly, my appetite suddenly gone as the croissant hits my stomach. "Believe it or not, ugh, they gave her their powers."

"Who's they?" Palkia demands, trying to keep calm. Dialga leans in close, eager to hear what I have to say. "Time and Space. They came to my mom in human forms and gave her their powers," I rake my fingers through my hair. Looking back on the past stresses me out. I don't how know how these two are taking this all in. "That's the truth, I don't care if you don't believe me."

"Why did they give their powers to a human?" Dialga and Palkia ask each other.

"I'm not really sure why, all I know is that her powers passed down to me," I shrug, slumping over and letting my hair frame my face. "Me and brother."

"Where's your mother now?" Palkia asks.

"Welcome to my world buddy," I snap while I cross my arms and glower at him. "Space took her and my brother away…I have no idea what could've happened to them. I only saw the past and nothing more."

Palkia pensively zones out while Dialga suddenly gets up. "Wait, you only saw the past?"

"That's what I said."

"When I shook your hand I only saw your future, it would be implausible-"

"You saw my future?! What is it?" Dialga gives me this look that says, "If I ever told you I'd have to kill you." My unwavering gaze holds out for another minute and then I pout and fold my arms. "So no to that huh?"

"It would be implausible for you to gaze into the past unless you knew someone who had dominion over the past," he continues as if never interrupted. Thinking about Dori makes my cheeks warm up and releases the nauseating butterflies in my stomach. "Tell me Mizuki," adds Dialga urgently. "I'm only trying to understand. These questions are important to comprehending what kind of human we're dealing with."

"What the hell does that mean?" I scoff as I turn away from him. "I'm gettin' real sick of these questions."

_"Please,"_ grumbles Palkia as if it pains him to say the word. "Your information is imperative to returning us home."

"Uuungh," I let out an exasperated sigh. "So this guy that I know, who was made by Time has been watchin' me for pretty much my entire life and represents the Dark part of time or somethin' like that, the past basically. In fact he's the reason I lost my world-'cuz he opened the black door that led the Heartless to my world and he's been testing me and making me grow stronger so that he can absorb me and do some bad stuff to other worlds and I forced him to show me what happened to my family," I splutter in one breath, sharply exhaling and falling back to the bed frame. "So yeah."

All of us stay taciturn, awkwardness adding to the tense atmosphere. I don't think I've ever felt so uncomfortable in my life. "What happened to your mom?" Palkia asks after a minute goes by. "What did you see?"

"I saw my mom getting sucked into somethin' and that's all," I reply sharply. I think I'm doing an okay job at rationally explaining why a fourteen year old kid lost her world to the Heartless and has the power to control time and space. "Space did somethin' with my brother, I'm not really sure what."

"It sounds like they threw your mother into a black hole, making her cease to exist," explains Palkia, softening his expression and tone when I widen my eyes in horror. "I'm the Spatial Pokémon and...I govern my world's universe, I'm familiar with such spatial matters. She must've interfered with the time-space continuum when she shouldn't have, but they must have known she would do that because she's-_young_." He says the last word carefully as I take quick breaths and stick my head in between my knees. "I'm not saying she's been killed but she no longer exists in these worlds. Black holes absorb all light and create an inescapable space…"

"Okay stop, end of discussion," I snap obstinately while stroking my hair excessively, no longer listening to whatever this Pokémon has to say. I hop off the bed and make my way to the door. Palkia snatches my arm while Dialga blocks the door. "I'm going to step into the hallway, I need to fix something." When neither of them move I add, _"A human female thing."_

If they were normal people, I'm sure they'd ask, "Why in the hallway?" but fortunately, they're not. Palkia releases me as if I'm covered in green slime and I step outside the room, shut the door, and collapse to the floor in a daze. I remember reaching out to my mom while she was being taken. When I was little, there wasn't a damn thing I could do for her and I thought that maybe if I strengthen the gifts she passed down to me, I would eventually find her. I should've known from the moment I lost my mom and brother that good things would never happen to me. All that hope I've carried with me all these years just went up in a plume of smoke. My eyesight blurs as my tears well up, gulping excessively doesn't help. "I don't get humans," Palkia says like a fed-up dad. "They have problems facing the_real world_ which they claim to live in."

"You're right about that," says Dialga with a little snort. "For some reason, lies provide solace while truth causes panic. That's caused human civilizations to collapse."

"And worlds."

"Shut up," I mutter under my breath.

"Have you two considered the weight of truths?" regards Uxie from the bathroom, more muffled than the other two. "Now that you two are on the same level as humans, you should be able to understand. They contain an emotional mass greater than the sun. Ignorance is bliss while truth is chaos, even if it's only the truth. The weight of truths can ravage the heart." Uxie's right, it is only the truth, no matter how hard it is to hear. I pat my cheeks while I rise to my feet and at the same time, the door jolts open, sending me crashing into the wall across my room. "Are you done yet?" barks Palkia.

"Ow, ow, ow, ouch!" I push off the wall and face him scornfully. "God!"

"Did I cause harm?"

"Clearly!"

"...I apologize. Tell me human, does your heart feel ravaged?"

"What?"

"Did I ravage your heart?" I soften my glare when I understand what he really means. I sigh vexedly as I begrudgingly shake my head. He sighs through his nostrils and asks, "Why is your head red and large? Are you humans that fragile?"

"'Cause you just-never mind." I rub my swollen temple and re-enter the unkempt bedroom with him.

"Listen to them Mizuki," Uxie says encouragingly from the bathroom. "They aren't telling you all this for you to give up." He says it like it's so easy, he doesn't know what I've been through for the past eleven years. I plop on the side of my bed, clench my fists, and sit there in frustrated silence. How the hell do I deal with a black hole? When some of my frustration simmers down, I speak up.

"I've been through Heartless, time rifts, time travelling, and too many weird encounters. And you two-you two are saying that it doesn't mean anything 'cause there's no point? What have I been doing for the past nine months then-no, eleven years! How do I fight against a black hole? _Please, enlighten me!_" I cross my legs and slump over in a huff. Taken aback by my outburst, the jeweled-interrogators stay taciturn for two minutes.

"As entities of time and space, we want to strengthen you while we're here," Dialga breaks the silence. "When Time and Space interfere with the lives of humans nothing good ever comes of it. Humans call their intervention 'destiny' or 'fate' and I'm not sure which one you would prefer. Perhaps it is them that brought us here."

"I'm surprised one of them hasn't shown up yet," I reply seriously. "They always pop up to discourage me."

"If we were to encounter them here, it will rock the time and space continuum and will create and a galactic and temporal disfigurement-"

"Okay so bad stuff. Whatever."

"It's unfortunate that a young girl has to experience this," Palkia says gravely. "But we'll all work together to make sure that you're...more familiar with your abilities. They could help us get to our original dimensions. As for your brother, you can't get in contact in him? No, you said Space took him away-"

"He's alive. I know he's still alive, maybe not in this world but somewhere," I pick my head up and sigh. This is getting too emotional for me to handle, this why I hate talking about family stuff with people. I desperately need to change the subject before I burst again, "By the way, are you two and Giratina all brothers? You're all so different." Their sangfroid countenances melt and is replaced with harsh expressions, as if mentioning their relation translated to "Fuck you and your mother."

"I may call them my brothers but we've come quite close to killing each other in the past," Dialga admits with some bloodlust in his tone.

"We can settle the score right now," Palkia cracks his knuckles and neck. "I haven't fought in this human form and it really isn't fair Giratina gets fight for us and then lose." Dialga reciprocates the fighting attitude, growling at him like an animal. I hurry off the bed, shove them away from each other, and head for the bathroom. "If anything gets wrecked, I'll kill both of you. Well not really but I'm gonna be pissed. The hotel is gonna charge me a shitton for anything broken in here." I find Uxie looking at himself in the mirror. "And you, I need to shower so stop playing with the mirror."

"Was having a conversation with those two so bad?" he wonders innocently.

"Yes!"

"I thought you were more mature than this."

"Okay, not really," I shrug indifferently. "At least I know the truth finally."

"Isn't a part of human adolescent growth to face life for what it truly is?"

"Yeah but that doesn't mean I have to enjoy it."

' ' '

We spent the next five hours watching TV, well, more like flipping through the channels. Dialga and Palkia were amazed by the power of television, wondering how it was possible for so many different "worlds" to exist in such a box. Uxie eventually explained to them how it worked, killing my main entertainment for the night. I think I almost died of laughter when they went to _Horror Channel_ but then I had to insist that although we could hear the song that the crazed maniac played before he killed someone, we would survive. Twenty minutes after that, the two brothers passed out on the carpet and Uxie fell asleep ten minutes before. I'm the last one to lay my head down on the cool pillow; I open my eyes to see Uxie no longer lying next to me. Confused, I sit up and don't see Dialga on the right side or Palkia on the other side. "Guys, where are you?" I climb out of bed, shivering and panting. It's so cold in here that I can see my own breath, I didn't think it would be this cold, maybe that's why they left the room. As I get to the door, the lock stays firm and I keep trying to pull the door open but it won't budge. "What the hell? Did they lock me out? If this is some prank I swear…"

I whip my head around to the TV screen which gets shattered inexplicably. When I move closer to inspect it, I jump back as I gawk at the huge hand slithering out. The fingers are like straight right angles, clawing at the air as it moves closer to me. I get up and try busting down the door but then I'm grabbed and pulled into the darkness of the television box. "Let me go already!" I attempt to squirm my way out but its strangling grasp on me makes it almost impossible to escape. I turn my head to find the source of the hand and only see a faint light, but I know it's a light to be feared. "No, let me go!"

"How do you make a world?" someone's voice echoes in the freezing void when I'm plunged into the light. "With just these, it is possible to create a world, maybe even restore one. Would you like to observe?" I see the monster down below grasping me and making it harder to breath-the strength to fight back and scream is crushed by the dark fuchsia monster when it tightens its grasp.

"Mizuki, it's only a dream!" The terrifying face is gone and the only voices I hear now belong to the Pokémon in the room. Uxie's sitting atop me, his hands on my shoulders while Dialga and Palkia look perplexed. I glance around, realizing someone turned the lamp on in the midst of my nightmare. "Breathe in and out, what you experienced wasn't real. Perhaps Darkrai's presence in this world is affecting your REM. Palkia get some water for her."

"No water, I'm fine. I've gotta turn off the A/C," Uxie gets off me and Palkia backs away as I get out of bed and turn the A/C knob to _off_. Then I hurry to the door and open it, letting out a relieved sigh. "I usually don't have nightmares like this, sorry everybody. You can just go back to bed."

"A nightmare that causes you to shake the bed and wake up screaming is a terrifying one. There must be something you're paranoid about," says Uxie but I ignore him, turning off the light and getting back into bed. "You should have something to drink, you'll wake up with a dry throat tomorrow."

"Good night Brainiac. Sorry I woke you guys up."

Later that morning, everyone's up before me. By the time I get ready, Dialga and Palkia tell me that they want to start training me but won't stop bugging me about the nightmare I had. "It's no big deal," I brush it off casually while I finish straightening my hair.

"Considering it's you, it's very important," Uxie interrupts us, sitting up nonchalantly on the unkempt bed. "Dreams are the windows to your unconscious mind. Dialga pointed out that you have powers pertaining to the future and although you don't have much control over it consciously, your unconscious mind releases what you can't control in the form of dreams. Sometimes dreams can mean absolutely nothing but with you, it's how you can peer into the future. If you were more experienced, then you would be able to do so consciously."

"You talk too much," I retort while I unplug the straightener and place it under the bed.

"What did you see?" Palkia asks yet again. I wave him away, go to the mini-fridge, and noisily gulp down a small bottle of water. It's cool to have nonhuman entities in my room, I don't have to worry too much about manners.

"Tell me what the nightmare was about," pesters Dialga for the eighth time. I glance at the brothers, gulping anxiously as I take out another bottle of water. Why does Uxie have to be right about everything? "It took place here, everything was cold and the door was locked. You guys weren't in the room and then a purplish hand grabbed me and dragged me into the TV. Someone was going on about how to make a world and then-" I freeze, remembering the face of the monster. "That's it, I woke up."

"That's not true, we're not stupid," Palkia looms over me. "What else did you see?"

"I just told you everything didn't I?"

"Mizuki, this could be important to returning to our worlds. You have to tell us," Dialga urges. I rake my fingers through my warm hair and sigh exasperatedly as I twist the bottle cap open.

"I recognized that monster's face. Now let's just leave it alone okay?"

Whose favorite chapter is this? Guiltyyyyy (will never use this joke again).

J.G.P.


	15. Power Lust

**I AM SO SORRY, I made this bad booboo when I was fixing this other error from my other chapters. And all my hard work on this chapter got replaced with my lazy work. Again, I'm so sorry.**

I always thought that my father's personal training sessions with me were the most painful, agonizing thing I had to experience. There were times when I thought I would die with my face and fingers covered with blood but I digress, I thought father's teaching was strenuous and unbearable. I was wrong.

"Lightning is like fire except you concentrate your fury in one spot. Fire is widespread fury, now strike me down like you did yesterday," commands Rayquaza as he encircles me in the sky. For a heavy sleeper he is energetic and swift; I have been up longer than him and I am nearly exhausted. What did he say, something along these lines, _"Dragon Pokémon rest well but are ferocious in battle! You only felt a quarter of my power yesterday." _How can one person other than my father make me wish to lie down in the ground? Granted he is not really a person. I close my eyes and let out a soundless breath while I picture Rayquaza flying circles around me. When I reopen my eyes a bolt from the blue-Azelf informed me of it-nearly strikes my foot. "You're not concentrating hard enough on me."

"Easier said than done," I mumble while I refocus on him. This time I picture him being still even though the wind stirring up tells me otherwise. Thunder violently cracks and a loud thud follows right after. I open my eyes and rush towards a singed Rayquaza lying stilly on the ground. "Sorry, I am sorry." I get on my knees for closer examination of his body. He coughs and groans while turning to the side away from me. "This won't be enough to take a dragon like me down...this human form makes it harder to absorb the impact." I recall the time Sia electrocuted me and how I managed to barely come out of that ordeal alive.

"Over here Risa!" Groudon bellows from the other side of the island. The birds resting in the trees flutter away at her reverberation and Rayquaza sighs tiredly. "Why do you hesitate? You want to be stronger than yesterday, yes?"

"Yes."

"Let Groudon help you." I leave Rayquaza to rest while I hurry to the other end of the island. Finally I am getting the proper training I need so I can best Sia again. "You're a slow one aren't you?" teases Groudon with a hearty laugh that makes the pebbles wobble. "To move with the earth you have to be footed in it, so it's a good thing you're not fast."

"I disagree, I am fast."

"Listen not to me but to the earth," orders Groudon. "Then hit me with your best shot." How do I do that? Sure, doing all these moves with Sia was simple because I was desperate and I did anything I could to survive. But to figure out how to do it properly is tedious work. I shove my fingers into the dirt and a slew of vines ensnare her easily but she has unimpressed look on her face. "What is-"

"Be firm! You need to be footed to do this," she protests as she breaks out of the vines and lands on her feet. Firm and footed, right? Be just as resolute as the promises I have to fulfill. A chunk of hard earth breaks off the ground and floats in front of me. "That's right." With a quick stomp, the chunk flies toward Groudon but she smashes it with a mere headbutt. "More, more. Be even firmer! What're you staring at?" I stand petrified when I gaze at the spot I held Clancy in my arms. He would have been excited to meet all the Pokémon and-

"Are you gonna stand there counting insects? I thought you were resolute and grounded," derides Groudon. The mental clouds clear away while I rush towards her, every flat-flooted step causing rocks to hop off the ground a little. I brandish my arms and launch them at her one by one while she destroys them with her brutish punches. "Keep your footing," she tells me while stepping to the side. I come to a halt at the edge of the floating peninsula, bending over to catch my breath.

"I am-!"

I am suddenly doused with bone-chilling water from below. Damn it, I forgot about the other one in the ocean, Kyogre. I wipe the water out of my face-my eyes burning from the salt-as I regain my balance and peer over the edge, barely getting a glimpse of Kyogre who blends in with the sea. A salty-tasting stream of water shoots up from the ocean and sends me straight to the sky. As soon as I am off my feet, the seawater falls flat and I nearly plummet into the water if Rayquaza does not grab my arms in time. "I have a hard time understanding how you defeated me," he comments.

"Shut up," I mutter while I dangle limply. I notice that he is flying me away from Angel Island and further out into sea. "Are you going to return me to land?"

"That is your problem. You wanted to return to Angel Island on your own yesterday, remember?" I slip out of his grasp and plunge toward the foamy waves. A jet stream erupts from the water and catches me, keeping me from hitting the ocean's surface. Below me, the water stirs up and Kyogre shoots out in front me, her legs wrapped in an aquatic vortex. "Rayquaza must really trust you to put you through this. Ready for your first lesson about controlling water? Water is about grace and strength, get it?"

"Not really."

"To return to your island you must." The gush of water acting as a cushion collapses and I drop into the cerulean waters. Kyogre is grinning and sighing tranquilly as I sink beneath the surface. Graceful yet powerful, like using a sword. I stare at the sparkling surface and propel myself upward; once in a while, fear weakens the blast of water beneath me but I am more courageous than cowardly. "You're good!" shouts Kyogre from below. I surpass the island and blast into the clouds as the seawater drops back down. As I free fall to the island I flip myself, concentrate on the ground, and raise my hands.

"Come on!" I exclaim excitedly as I get nearer to the ground. A boulder rises from the ruins and I land on it roughly, almost slipping off as I hover higher into the clouds. "I did it." I hold the sides as I crouch down, barely catching my breath. "Steady, steady, steady…" the rock obeys by remaining still. Shakily, I stand on my feet and pull my drenched hood over my head as the sun's scintillating rays beam on me. The boulder descends from the clouds slowly and I stop it just in time for me to get a view of the vast ocean: the waves traveling toward the faraway shore, the seagulls swooping down to catch fish, the fish leaping out of the water, and Kyogre swimming after them. "It all is so amazing, I wish…never mind," I whisper to myself while I stare at my hand, thinking about the Keyblade. I am closer to fulfilling those promises, just hold out a little longer everyone.

Rayquaza flies into focus, snapping me out of my pensive mood. "Are you done for today?"

"Being the child of Mother Nature Herself, I can never be done," I reply satisfactorily.

"Child of Mother Nature? That explains everything but the broken sword."

"I am a complicated person."

' ' '

I used to think of the Mother's Daughter as something I could have never become, but now that I got this far, everything seems within reach. The clouds, my dreams, my promises are all an arm's length away from me. I fly over Knuckles and Groudon, noisily devouring the fruits I got them this morning, both of them wave enthusiastically. Azelf is staying cool in the forest area of the island, probably thinking of home the way I did when I first arrived at Angel Island. He told me earlier that he planned on spending the day meditating to connect with Mesprit and Uxie. Kyogre naps under the halcyon waves, letting the water take her wherever. None of the Pokémon here are depressed and upset like I was when I first got here. Maybe they are taking it in stride, making the best of a horrible situation, or hiding their true melancholy. They are a lot stronger than me, that is for sure. "You are an interesting human," remarks Rayquaza as he hovers next to me. "An interesting human indeed."

"Thanks...?"

"You are stronger today than yesterday. Do you like power?"

"Yes."

"I thought so. I saw the power lust in your eyes when we fought yesterday."

"You are a dragon, right?" I ask to his amusement. "An actual dragon."

"Yes, I am," says Rayquaza proudly. "Dragons don't exist in this world, do they?"

"As far as I know, no. They exist in myths and legends as powerful creatures," I explain while balancing myself on the hovering rock. "I admit I did not read much of them. But my father told me to learn from the stories. 'Learn that dragons are creatures to be reckoned with' he would say."

"Aha! That is why you have such power lust," the Dragon Pokémon surmises arrogantly. "You wish to be as strong as a dragon." I think about it and then shake my head to his confusion.

"In all the stories I have heard, dragons grow strong to protect their treasures and to destroy anything else," I reply coldly. "Their _avarice_ is what made them powerful and their lack of mercy-" I glance at Rayquaza's trembling fists and continue "-made them creatures to be reckoned with. I want to be strong-"

"How dare you," hisses Rayquaza. "I am the reason my world hasn't drowned in the sea or burnt up from the sun. How can you deem dragons to be selfish?"

"Because you are not doing it for the sake of others," I respond sternly, stretching my arms out to properly balance myself. If Kyogre did not spray me with water this would be a lot easier. "I have yet to face your wrath, that is what you told me yesterday, which only proves you cared about showing off your power. I want to grow strong for my friends and return them home."

"Is that why you want to make up for the one you couldn't save? To show off your power by acting as our savior?" he seethes as I turn to him. Before I can answer, Knuckles interrupts us.

"Something's coming!" Knuckles shouts from below. Rayquaza and I zoom back down to Angel Island as I bring out the Keyblade. I crash and stumble onto land as all of us swarm around a rose-colored, spiral opening. It tears through the atmosphere as it grows into the size of a watermelon. "It's a portal," Azelf notes as he stands besides Groudon.

"What the hell is coming out of it?" asks Knuckles. The Keyblade vanishes into light as I ease up, recognizing the melanocomous hair belonging to the girl that tumbles out. "Shit, that really hurt!" Mizuki gets on all fours and glares at the portal. "You said it would be easier the more times I did it!"

"This place is farther than the other places you went to," I recognize Palkia's voice and he leaps out of the portal, landing next to Mizuki deftly, followed by Dialga. "It was you that wanted to go over your limit," says Dialga with a shrug.

"Our enemy could be tracking our movements," says Uxie as he hops out of the portal. It closes with a flicker of light; Mizuki picks herself up, wincing in pain as she smooths out her hair. "Hello all. This is a result of Mizuki and Palkia's carelessness," Uxie informs us with a faint smile.

"Hey!" both Palkia and Mizuki object. It looks as though the Pokémon with Mizuki are upbeat, unlike yesterday. "I'm a work in progress," Mizuki says proudly. "What's up everybody?"

"What's up?" Rayquaza wonders confusingly, not used to Mizuki's relaxed vernacular. "Isn't the firmament-?"

"It is a greeting where she comes from," I explain. He makes an aggravated sound from his throat. He is still bothered by what I said about dragons, oh well. "What are you doing here, Mizuki?"

"Oh yeah!" she snaps her fingers. "Has Darkrai passed by?"

"No. Frankly, he does not have a reason to."

"Damn it...well Palkia is helping me get better with my skills and I figured I'd stop by to see how everyone's doing. It's already four fifteen, we gotta be at Mia's house soon-speaking of her, I've got something to tell you, privately." Her serious tone alarms me but I step away from the crowd of Pokémon and brace myself. I can hear Knuckles yelling at the visitors to get off the island but nobody pays him mind. "Did something happen to her? Why do you look so disturbed?"

"I had a really bad nightmare last night and that succubus Darkrai-"

"The word you mean is _incubus_, Mizuki," Uxie corrects. "And in your case, that implies-"

"Shut up!" shouts an exasperated Mizuki. Uxie and Azelf giggle at her quick temper and eventually, so does the other two Pokémon she came with. "So nosy." She resumes in a softer tone but is still frantic, "I was grabbed by the same weird hands that brought these guys to this world and it dragged me to some place that was freezing. And I saw the monster that grabbed me, I can tell you for sure that it's a Heartless...what, you don't believe me?"

"No, I completely believe you," I say confidently. "It is just that the Heartless are animalistic, not cunning or smart enough to do something like this. Not on their own anyway. But what does it have to do with Mia? Was she captured too?"

"No she-was _it_. She was the Heartless who captured me-I know that dreams shouldn't be taken _that_ literally but she had the dark hands they're talking about," stammers Mizuki with a grave expression.

"Did you talk to them about your nightmare?" I nod toward the Pokémon conversing among each other.

"Uh yeah, they kinda forced me to. What're we going to do?"

"Your dream could be referring to a Heartless close to us or nothing at all. We should talk about it when we go over Mia's place later, we will smooth everything out. I really doubt Mia has anything to do with how these Pokémon got here," I reassure her. "However, this might make those Pokémon distrustful of us. No point worrying about it now, let us go see Mia."

"Yeah and I gotta give Darkrai a piece of my mind."

"I do not think that is necessary and I am advising against that."

"Yeah well, too bad. Freakin' incubus shouldn't have given me that nightmare."

J.G.P.


	16. Friends, the People that Matter

Summer's humidity and guilt from upsetting Don made it hard for Jirachi and I to keep playing. I find it strange that Jirachi is the only one who's severely affected by the heat and it's because of that I can't take the others out to the city. It feels like I'm keeping them trapped here but everyone looks like they're enjoying themselves, and if they're okay, then so am I, kinda. "Hey, hey, I'm thirsty!" whines Jirachi while fanning himself in front of the standing fan.

"I'll get you some water," Cresselia brings the sweaty child to the sink. "I get a cup and pull this, right Mia?" I nod to her while I lean back on the couch comfortably. Mesprit skips inside the house, her hot pink hair split into two pairs of long ponytails. I notice that she doesn't have any hair ties in her hair.

"How do you keep your hair like that?" I ask. She also looks healthier and fresher than yesterday, as do the rest of the Pokemon since they cleaned up this afternoon.

"Psychic energy. It's how Jirachi and Cresselia manage their hair, too," she explains with some excitement while flipping one of her ponytails. "By the way, you're fine with letting Giratina be free right?"

"He said he wasn't comfortable when I spoke to him this morning," I reply as I take a few ice cubes from my cup and drop them in my mouth. While I exhale to balance out the sudden frigidness in my mouth, Mesprit bursts into a giggle. "What's funny?"

"I'll tell you after they leave."

"Who?"

"The others are here!" Jirachi announces as he retreats to the sofa.

"Okay, no need to shout," I tell him after crunching the refreshing ice cubes into melting water. I step outside and wave cheerfully at the Mizuki and Risa Pokémon groups, but they all look gravely serious. "Is everything okay?"

"Yeah, everything's fine," assures Mizuki while staring me up and down. "Did you do anything funny last night? Specifically around two thirty-two this morning." For some reason Risa is expectantly looking at me, as are the other Pokémon adjacent to her.

"Nope."

"Did Darkrai do something odd after we left yesterday?"

"Hmm, Don and Darkrai passed by this morning but-"

At hearing their names, she sputters, "Aah!" then jogs in place as if insects are crawling up her legs. As I patiently wait for her to explain herself, I'm trapped in a wet, sea-scented bear hug. "Mia!" Kyogre's big arms lift me off the ground while yesterday she could scantily stand. "Is that thing up there still working?"

"You mean the bathtub? Yes, do you need it right now?"

"No, she should be alright for the time of being," Rayquaza answers for her, stepping past me after Kyogre sets me down. Dialga and Palkia intently look at Mizuki who folds her arms and says, "He did do something! I told you." Everyone comes inside and fills up the living room but unlike yesterday, we're all gathered in the living room together. Giratina leaves my bedroom after spending the day on the balcony and joins the rest of us. It's as Mesprit said last night, he isn't used to being around others so he shuts himself out. Azelf stands up and takes charge of the rendezvous along with his siblings. "Darkrai and Don won't join us?"

"I doubt it, they run on their own time," Dialga comments sarcastically.

"Sounds like them," I say to myself with a light chuckle, then blush when I remember what Mespirit said last night.

"Sounds like they're both running from a guilty conscience," says Mizuki tauntingly. "Or maybe Darkrai just can't face me." Why does Mizuki sound like she's got something against Darkrai? Yesterday we were both concerned for his safety in his match against Don, I wonder what changed her?

"We figured something out," Dialga says seriously, turning to Mizuki whose head sinks dolefully. "I know why you want it to be a secret but we can't afford to keep secrets at this time. Just let everyone know what you know about what took us." I hear her gulp and I'm starting to get anxious. "Try to refrain from your profane vocabulary."

"Okay, I had a nightmare this morning about being taken by a weird-looking black hand," Mizuki starts shakily as if traumatized by the nightmare. I hear a quiet, "Hey", and look at Don who just stepped inside followed by Darkrai. I turn away bashfully, remembering how he ran off after I brought up Angelica, while Mizuki goes on, "And it was the same hand the Pokémon were taken with. The Heartless who was in my nightmare kindasortalookedlike-you!" She accusingly points her finger at Darkrai and storms towards him. "What did you do to me?"

"The Heartless looked like Darkrai?" I ask. So that's why Mizuki was talking about him like that. Mizuki whips her head to me, her furious expression subsiding into a pitying one the longer she stares at me, and then returns her glare to Darkrai. "No Mia, this guy gave me that nightmare!"

"Did he use Dark Void?" I wonder.

"No! He just...gave me a normal nightmare, but it was still terrible."

"Something terrible or something helpful?" Darkrai asks curiously.

"Giving me a horrible mental image of Mia being a Heartless isn't something to be proud of!" she shouts then gasps as if she had let an earth-shattering secret out. Fireworks go off in my stomach and I sink into the couch. "What?"

"I didn't-I didn't say-"

"Yes, Mia was the Heartless who took you in the nightmare," affirms Darkrai to my horror and everyone else who isn't already informed or isn't stone-faced like Giratina. "And I gave you that nightmare to expedite the returning home process. Mia is-"

"Ohmygod I'm gonna kill you!" Mizuki's about to grab Darkrai's scarf but Don, who hasn't uttered a word, slaps both her hands away and steps in front of the emotionless Pokémon. "Get outta my way Leather Jacket."

"Is that a threat?"

"Now you two are best friends? You were goin' to bury him yesterday."

_"Mia's not a Heartless!"_ objects Jirachi, adding to the chaos. "We play together, she wouldn't hurt us."

"Jirachi, hush," Cresselia stands up and gestures for Don and Mizuki to calm down. Mizuki inhales deeply, huffs into a pout, and returns to her seat.

"Why didn't you tell me this morning?" I ask Darkrai high-strung, my body burning from flames of anxiety.

"Is he to report to you every Monday morning?" Don retorts, his sharpness silencing me. Cresselia's assured tone eases the tension slightly, "Most dreams aren't to be taken literally. They can serve as a metaphor for something else sometimes or are completely useless."

"But if Mizuki is the one dreaming, then we do have something to be concerned about," Dialga raises a point matter-of-factly. "She has ties to the future and that dream she had sheds some light on this situation, probably why Darkrai gave it to Mizuki. It doesn't mean that Mia is necessarily the monster but she could be connected to it in some way."

"I wouldn't do anything to hurt you guys," I manage to stay calm but my eyes focus on the carpet. But could I have done something? My Darkness could've-no! My Darkness is warm and different from Seth's, I would never let it be corrupted. And why did Don speak to me as if I was stupid? That really hurt me. "I'll be right back." I hurry up the stairs but one of them stops me. "I believe you!" Kyogre follows me half way up and gently pulls me back downstairs. "If you wanted to hurt us you would've done so when we first met. A dream is only a dream," she says with a reassuring grin. The psychic siblings all smile at me as I reluctantly rejoin the group.

"Have you been with Seth lately?" Mizuki asks quietly, embarrassed by her outburst. When I shake my head, she asks me questions about what I did the morning the Pokémon arrived. I tell her how I found Kyogre and everything else after that, then she concludes I had nothing to do with anything. "It was just a stupid dream, everyone's taking it so seriously. So we actually have no leads besides the fact a Heartless took you guys."

"Then there's no point of us being here," says Don coldly as he strolls out the door. Darkrai looks at Mizuki dismally and bows to her. "I gave you the nightmare because Mia now has an immunity to my powers and the Keyblade protects its master in the realm of sleep. I'm sorry." He pulls his scarf up and leaves Mizuki flabbergasted and speechless.

"Although the situation is dark," Cresselia says gloomily, pressing Jirachi against her abdomen and looking down at him. "Light will always reside in people's...?"

"Wishes!" Jirachi finishes the sentence cheerfully.

"Wishes?" Mizuki and Risa utter while I remember him going on about it last night. Jirachi leaves Cresselia and pulls Risa and Mizuki to their feet while bringing them to my sides. "What about wishes?" Mizuki asks.

"I tried telling you but you ignored me," he starts timidly and closes his eyes. "I wanted to thank you guys for taking care of me."

"How would you do-woah!" Mizuki screams while Risa and I soundlessly gape at the dark teal eye that opens up through his chest and is connected to his shirt. The tags on the back of his shirt glow and flutter as if a strong breeze is blowing through the house. The eye reverts back to a black seam on his oversized shirt and his small eyes open. "What was that?"

"Jirachi allowed you to see its third eye, he'll grant your wishes," Uxie says eagerly. "I wonder what the three of you will wish for-ah Jirachi."

"Yes?"

"You can't let them wish for whatever they want."

"Why not?"

"Using too much of your power will give our position away."

"So wishing for you all to go home is out of the question?" asks Mizuki.

"Yes, but thanks for the consideration."

"What about getting rid of curses?" asks Risa softly.

"Sorry Risa, that's too powerful," answers Azelf with a frown. Risa sighs grimly and mutters to herself, "I guess I was asking for too much." She turns to Azelf and back at Jirachi. "No matter, let us see if you can really grant wishes. I wish for a mountain of grapes." When every one of us gives her an odd look she adds, "Knuckles and Groudon enjoy a lot of-" she stops when the child hums, closing his eyes as his green wish tag at the top of his back glows bright teal, fluttering in his aura. After a while he stops and takes a deep breath. "Where's the mountain?" Mizuki asks doubtfully.

"The floating island in the sky where you live," says Jirachi while pointing at Risa rudely.

"Nice wish, let's go see it!" Groudon hops of the couch, tosses Risa over her shoulder, and bolts out the door. Kyogre scowls at her bulky relative as she follows her out, leaving a trail of water to mop up. "Stupid! You made her waste her wish on something so insignificant. I should kill you for that!"

"Stop it," interrupts Rayquaza as he pushes Kyogre back and flies out.

"We'll stop by tomorrow," Azelf tells everyone as he sprints outside. "Wait for me!"

"Mizuki, we're going," Uxie tells her while Dialga and Palkia stroll out the door. Mizuki says goodbye to me and the others quietly, her face tomato from shame. I'm sure she'll get over it by the end of the day. "I like selfless wishes like hers," Jirachi remarks while smiling up at me. "Don't you?"

"I do," I agree. "Sorry I didn't listen to you when you were talking about it. My mind was on other things."

"Are you gonna make a wish?"

"Listen Jirachi, I don't have time to make wishes," I say while tussling his puffy hair. "We gotta get you and everyone else home and figure out what Mizuki's nightmare was about."

"But you're not a Heartless, you're nice and I like you," persists Jirachi while hugging my hips. I catch a glimpse of Giratina going up the stairs to return to his favorite spot in the house. "Thank you Jirachi, I like you too." But the fact that I was in Mizuki's dream can't be ignored like Dialga said. Mizuki has special powers like me and if she dreamt of me snatching the Pokémon then there's something I did. _Something I couldn't control._ "You're afraid," Mesprit notices seriously. "Is it about the dream?"

"I'm going upstairs for a little while, okay?" Jirachi releases me and I hurry up to my bedroom and close the door. I cover my face and sink to the floor with a heavy sigh while I remember what happened yesterday. Dark Void blanketed me in Darkness, did that do something to me? I should've asked Darkrai when he came by but I got distracted by Don's attitude and Mizuki's temper. What am I going to do if my Darkness turns into Seth's? I'll hurt everyone I care about.

"You lack malevolent Darkness," states Giratina, legs sprawled out on the balcony. I raise my head and cautiously step to him while I insist, "I hurt you yesterday, I could have done something else."

"I don't believe you can do unnecessary harm to others," he replies deadpan. "I wasn't affected by your punches and you were aware that you couldn't hurt me."

"But I struck you-"

"You wouldn't inflict pain unless you had good intentions," he argues firmly as he advances to me dauntingly. "Do not torment yourself." I back up against the door as he halts his stride. He softens his fierce expression and returns to the balcony. I sigh through my nostrils while I push my bangs back. "I'm sorry, I'll stop worrying about it."

' ' '

I shift the bag of junk food to my right hand as my left arm begins to tire. The heat wave finally broke this morning, it's a little brisk out but tepid enough to wear a romper. "I am not sure Groudon will like ice cream," Risa says hesitantly, carrying pints of strawberry ice-cream. "She is still content with all those grapes I wished for a few days ago. Also I noticed she is not fond of juice, water, ice cubes, and anything that is cold and a liquid."

"Hey, you were iffy about it too when you first tried it," Mizuki reminds her in a bossy tone. "I'm telling you they'll love it. We've gotta make sure they feel right at home and a little party to celebrate their fourth day with us is the best way to do it."

"It's starting to drip, we should hurry inside," I politely urge. The three of us speed up to the door and then Risa stops suddenly and backs away. "What's the-"

"Shh, we should listen in quietly," she whispers while setting the bags of ice cream down and hiding in the bushes. "You two should go to the side of the house to hear better."

"Eavesdropping? That's so wrong," I protest but in a hushed tone. "They trust us and we trust them-"

"Mia come on. Don't you wanna know what they really think of us?" she takes my hand and brings me to the side of the house. Still holding the bag of candy and chips, she and I bend down and press our ears against the wall. "This is wrong!"

"Shut up."

"…don't think we're getting home any time soon," Cresselia's soft-spoken voice is heard first. "It's been four days."

"They've been in this world for almost a year now," the older adult named Palkia states. "It's safe to assume we won't be getting out so quick either."

"What if we return to a destroyed world? Without us governing our regions, who knows what we're returning to?" Dialga voices the universal concern.

"That's the worst case scenario. We have to be a little more patient even if that means we have to stay in these mortal forms for some time," Uxie says sadly. "At least we have protection."

"That's another thing to worry about it," Rayquaza replies disapprovingly. "I've been bothered by something Risa said to me. When I asked her why she was helping us she said to make up for the one she couldn't save."

"And?"

"And someone recently died on that island, right Groudon?"

"Yeah, blood's been spilled. That's why she's obsessed with saving us-don't get me wrong, she's one of the strongest humans I've ever met," remarks Groudon with awe but it quickly dies, "The girl thinks she can save us while she's trying to save herself."

"Did we forget that these are young adolescents we're getting help from?" Mesprit reminds the group. "Young humans like to think they can do it all-"

"Stop talking bad about Mia and her friends!" shouts Jirachi passionately.

"We're not doing that, shush," Cresselia soothingly says to him. "Continue."

"Mesprit is saying that these girls are still hurting but insist on helping us. It's a kind gesture but the fact of the matter is that there isn't anything they can really do," Uxie concludes.

"I think this is enough," Mizuki gets up to retrieve the melting pints of ice cream and signals for Risa to get out of the bushes.

"Let's get in front of the house so it doesn't look too suspicious," I urge as we join Risa, whose face I can never fully see but I can tell she's down about what they said. "Oh God why did I promise I was gonna bring them back home? They're right, we've been stuck here for nine months and have no idea how to get back," says Mizuki in a disheartened tone.

"There is still time, it has only been four days," Risa says reassuringly. "We have not failed yet."

"What're you three doing?" Uxie opens the door. "What are you holding in your hands?" The cicadas answer his question with rapid, obnoxious chirps. Mizuki feigns a wide grin as she lifts the dripping bags. "It's ice cream, Brainiac. It's our surprise treat to you."

"The Dragon Pokemon don't like ice."

"I'm gonna prove you wrong!"

'''

In the middle of the night while the waning moon hides behind the thick clouds, I wake up to a far away, dull song. I try to let Cresselia's voice lull me back to sleep but the 85 degree weather keeps me wide awake; the balcony is empty, it's weird not seeing Giratina there tonight. I gently pat Mesprit's head as I get out of bed and skulk out of the bedroom. The lights are all off but I spot Cresselia standing over Giratina and singing to him quietly. Her rich and soothing voice reminds me of my mom who sometimes sang lullabies to put me to sleep but she liked humming better. "Are you asleep?" she asks him.

"No."

"Mia can you try?" she turns on the standing lamp and looks up at me with gentle eyes. I get off the banister and hurry down the stairs, taken aback seeing Giratina lying down on the sofa with a grumpy expression. "What're you guys doing?"

Cresselia sighs exhaustedly. "He's requested I put him to sleep but nothing is working. This is the third night I've tried, but I'm happy you're awake!"

"Why?"

"Come, come. He'll be upset if I say it around him." Limiting my contact with Cresselia gets harder each day, she's been getting friendlier with me over the passing days. She leads me outside eagerly and holds my wrists, I can't help but worry. "No reason to worry, rest assured. Giratina is smitten with you-oh my, Mesprit's right. You do blush easily!"

"S-sorry, I'm a little surprised," I stutter while fiddling with my fingers.

"Nothing like that Mia," insists Cresselia while holding my hands the way I think my mom would if I told her "I just got my first period." "When he talks to Mesprit, it's always about how you were feeling and how you were doing, I've never seen him care about anything besides the Distortion World. Even now he says, 'I want to learn how to sleep for Mia's sake' and this and that for Mia."

"R-really?"

"He asked for you many times in the night but you were always sleeping. Now that you're awake, you might be able to help the smitten insomniac," she jokes with a tired tone. "I think we're all smitten by you. You take care of us, let us use everything here, you're a sweet child."

"Thank you," I stammer as I can't hold back my smile anymore. She lets my hands fall to my sides as she dotingly stares at me. I tried to stay away from the beautiful, sienna-colored woman because whenever I looked at her, I couldn't help but think of my distant memories with my mom. Then I think of how she gruesomely died at the hands of my uncle and the guilt digs a hole in my chest. "You look tired…you should go to bed," I suggest to her as she escorts me inside.

She smiles while stroking my head. "You're a good child Mia. Pleasant dreams." The courteous motherly figure leaves me with Giratina and joins Jirachi in the guest room. "So why did you call for me?" I timidly ask Giratina, trying not to blush.

"I want to sleep yet I worry about the Distortion World and what's to come of it." I think back to the discussion from this afternoon and frown. "Ever since Arceus, the being that gave birth to all of us, banished me to the realm away from its world, watching the Distortion World has been my duty. It's the only thing given to me and the only thing I live for."

"Why were you banished?"

He rambles on, "I was defiant and rebellious when I was young. From the moment I was born I was deemed different from my brothers Palkia and Dialga and thus was exiled to a void world that I had to rule. I have a question for the keeper of balance."

"You can call me Mia," I sit on the floor, facing the couch while anxiously waiting for his question. The restless Pokémon turns to me, some of his ink black hair strands falling on his cheeks, "What were you going to ask me when we fought?"

"Oh hmm," I think back on it and then it comes back to me. "You were too upset to answer but I think I was going to ask if you ever felt the world made you feel alone. The way you were talking made me assume that." He distantly gazes at the ceiling and after three minutes of silence I say, "I'm sorry, I'm not helping you get any sleep." I get up and stroll to the staircase. "I'll head up-"

"I would prefer you stay but you may leave if you wish," his tone goes from hollow and aloof to lenient. He looks like he's waiting for me to do something, but what? He's like a puzzle. Well I do know he wants to go to sleep.

"I'll hum my mom's lullaby to you, maybe that'll help," I say tentatively. I clear my throat and hum the way I remember Mom doing it. It's strange how I still remember every note, every break, and every pitch. When I close my eyes, it's as if Mom's standing over me, caressing my head and holding me in her arms while bringing solace to my restless spirit. The last part of the lullaby I sing in a softened tone, "Goodnight, goodnight, goodnight…" I wait a little while before deciding to peek at Giratina. "Did it help?"

"Somewhat," he utters drowsily. "I have another question for you…you said before that you would give everything up for your friends and nothing else mattered but your friends. Why do they affect you?" I blush as I recall the first lunch me, Mizuki, and Risa had together and every other hangout we've ever had, the laughing, the gossip, the teasing, all things I thought I would never experience after Seth abandoned me.

"Because, my friends make you feel happy, they…"

At first I give him a broad idea of what friends do and then I find myself telling him about the things me and my friends do. I end up talking about my past with Seth and how he used to make me feel. Giratina listens with open ears, absorbing my every word. I could tell he's fascinated by the stories about how Seth abandoned our friendship, doomed my world, and my struggle to accept that he'd given himself to the Darkness. I tell him about the lonely, friendless years I had after my parents were killed by someone who was supposed to be family and I think that intrigues him the most. When I go back to talking about why my friends are so precious to me, he stares at me with childlike innocence in his eyes. "…and I don't feel lonely when I'm with them. I guess it's because-" I pause my maundering when I hear soft whistling. Gingerly, I stand over Giratina, the dark rings around his eyelids most noticeable when he's asleep, like now.

"Mia…" he mumbles. "I have…quest…are we…friends?"

"Of course we are." I whisper affirmatively while I turn off the light. "I'll bring you back to the Distortion World soon. Just wait a little longer."

**I'm sorry this was so late, I'm babysitting every day. **

J.G.P.


	17. Nothing but Spilled Ice Cream Left

**On the sixth night.**

Thick storm clouds swallows the stars in the night sky. The sky looks like ready to pour, good thing I finished laundry an hour ago. "It smells good in here," Dialga remarks as he turns away from the TV. He and the rest of the Pokémon in here are topless, I had to "nicely" coerce them to let me wash their shirts since they smelled like they've spent the past six days living in the dumpster. I hand them their clothes from the laundry bag and they inhale the orchid-allure scented fabric softener. "It's so soft!" exclaims Palkia.

"With unhygienic guests like you guys, I had no choice but to clean everything in here," I reply seriously while folding my clothes on the carpet. "Even your clothes." The hotel room that once looked like a tornado had swept through it is now tidy and immaculate. Changing the force of gravity in my room made cleaning up fun, I never would've imagined I could ever do that. It was as easy as changing a light bulb.

"The dihydrogenated tallow dimethyl ammonium chloride material eliminates the negative charges I feel when I cross the carpet," Uxie says while he slips on his shirt and jacket, shuffling along the carpet. "Thank you Mizuki."

"Whatever."

"Oh Mizuki, do you want to practice opening wormholes?" Palkia pulls his shirt over his head. "Changing the force of gravity isn't challenging for you anymore."

"No thanks." I start to impatiently roll up my tanks and skirts. Why are they so fake? I heard what they said, we're useless to them but they wanna make me feel like...they're family or whatever. "What about time control Mizuki? I'll give you more lessons on-"

"I don't want to do anything but fold clothes," I speak over the TV which is perpetually on since everyone in here is perpetually fascinated by it. I can feel everyone's gaze on my back but I disregard them and listen to the news, "…with a 70% chance of a thunderstorm. It's a good idea to bring an umbrella if you're heading into the city…" When I finish putting away the rest of my clothes I slip off my sandals and fall flat on the bed. "Hey guys, on a scale of one to ten, ten being 'I wanna kill myself', how bad do you hate it here?"

"Huh?" Dialga utters.

"Hah?" Palkia turns away from the television for once.

"Mizuki, were you eavesdropping on us the other day?" inquires Uxie, taking a seat next to me. "I felt you and the others nearby." I pout while I remain reserved. "Is that why you haven't been yourself lately?" Palkia asks accusingly.

"How would you know what I'm normally like?" I retort, jolting up from the bed. "You've known me for six days. None of you really know anything about me so don't act like you do. I'm just some kid who doesn't know what she's doing right?"

"Mizuki-" Dialga starts but I silence him with a grunt.

"It doesn't matter. I promised I'd get you guys home but it's almost a week already. I'm really trying here...sorry I've been stuck here so long that I'm no help to any of you." I storm out of the bedroom, wrestling my hand out of Uxie's feeble grasp. "All I'm really good for is feeding you and doing laundry." I should go to Angel Island, at least Risa has reasonable space away from her Pokémon. "You're only feeling frustrated!" shouts Uxie as he tries pulling me back into the room.

"No kidding."

"Please be reasonable," Palkia attempts to bring me back into the room while Dialga blocks the way. "We don't hate it here we-"

"You're lying, all of you," I furiously mutter under my breath as I stop fighting Uxie and Palkia. "Tell me how you really feel 'cuz I doubt you all enjoy it here. I'm tired of your fake feelings."

"What we feel is genuine Mizuki," Dialga argues. "We like you and this world."

I cut my eyes at him as I put my hands on my hips. "You don't really-!"

"Don't be thick-headed, we're telling you nothing but the truth," insists Palkia as he takes his hand off of me. "I don't know who's telling you otherwise but they're lying to you." I run my fingers through my scalp and dejectedly return to my room. Uxie and Dialga sit on both sides of my bed as I drop on it in an angry huff. "We know you're all trying and we appreciate it," says Uxie optimistically. I lean forward and hold my head up with my hands. "Why?" I mumble. Dialga rubs my back delicately while Palkia uses his hand to mess up my hair. "Hey, I hate that, knock it off-oh come on, cut it out! I'm trying to be serious here."

"You make it hard for me to hate you or this world, I have to do the next best thing," Palkia snorts as he continues tussling my hair as if I'm a little boy.

"Likewise," concurs Dialga.

"Besides, you have a full head of hair on you."

"Why won't you stop already?" I ask, vexed out of my mind.

"Not until you're happy again," protests Palkia, speeding up my noogie.

"Alright I'm happy, sheesh."

"You don't look like it."

"_I'm happy!"_ I scream, getting everyone to flinch back. "I'm happy you guys are here and that you guys helped me with my issues and stuff but I still haven't figured out how I can return you guys home."

"We'll figure it out soon," avows Uxie. "The Heartless that took us will suffer dearly as well."

"It always starts with them and finishes with them, why do they always win?" I bleakly wonder aloud. "No matter how many times we stop them, they always get what they want. Why does Darkness always beat me?"

"It doesn't," protests Uxie quietly.

"This world is proof it doesn't. Because of that gemstone on Angel Island, everyone's safe from the Heartless. I wonder, now that we've gone, have they invaded our world?" Palkia asks rhetorically, making me even more concerned. "Well when get back, we'll see. Dialga, can't you see the future and see what will happen to us?"

"I can but as a spectator of time, I can't disclose that information to anyone," he replies regretfully. "Not even to you Mizuki. You must understand, when you visited the past weren't you told not to interfere?"

"Yeah I guess," I pout as Dialga rises from the bed. "I've been optimistic about everything in my life so far, my mom, my brother, and getting home-all the Darkness has done was prove me wrong at every turn."

"What does that have to do with anything?" Dialga questions concernedly. I fall back on the bed with a dejected sigh, staring at the digital clock that reads: _11:16 PM_. Ugh, I'm making a big deal about nothing, maybe I'm just tired of bottling everything inside. Risa did that and she exploded, it's good I do it now then later. "Dialga, Palkia, can you leave us alone for a while without trying to strangle each other?" Uxie requests.

"Since Mizuki usually hurts us when we do, I suppose we can do that," Dialga says as he pushes Palkia out of the room and closes the door. I gawk at the door and then at Uxie who forces me to sit up straight. "You're really weak for a smart, psychic kid," I half-heartedly joke.

"Thanks for the compliments. Listen to me carefully, you have no right to blame yourself for losing your world. At that time the Darkness overpowered the Light and that's why your world fell. But that doesn't mean the Light has been swallowed up completely. It is still there, waiting for the hearts of Light to gather and restore it. Perhaps it is this Dori person-who you said brought the Heartless to your world-that is keeping his hold on your home. Don't give up on the Light, none of us Pokémon have and it's because of you, Mia, and Risa. When you told Dialga and Palkia about your missing brother, you said 'I know he's still here, maybe not in this world but somewhere'. At first I believed you to be a fool, how can you know your brother is alive when you lack knowledge about his whereabouts? When I watch you interact with Risa and Mia and the more I got to know you, the more I understood. Do you know what faith means?"

"I-I guess it's like having hope in something."

"Faith means believing in something that's not based off proof. You haven't seen your brother in years and yet you said he's somewhere among the worlds. Faith is the unique Light that only you have, I don't have to be Mesprit to see that and don't need eyes to see the Light within you either. You can see things without actually seeing them, that's what having faith is. I'm glad that I got to be human for a short while, I wouldn't have learned from you." Uxie ends with a warm smile and glances at the door. "You two can stop eavesdropping and come inside."

"I thought Mesprit was the one who knew how to read people's hearts and emotions," I reply pensively. "Unless the three of you share your powers or something."

"Very observant, that's what I like about you. Mesprit, Azelf, and I share our thoughts with each other constantly," says Uxie. "I can tell your upbeat attitude and hopeful perspective on life keeps Mia and Risa optimistic for the future. It's frivolous to believe that you've spent all this time doing nothing." After hearing those reassuring words from the person I really didn't expect it from, I feel tingly and nice inside. "Sorry for making such a big deal," I say apologetically. He waves his hand just as Dialga and Palkia stroll in, pretending they didn't hear a word. "I've learned from my short duration of being human that people need to hear that things will work out," he adds.

"Thanks Brainiac," I pat his head and rub it. The other two join in to noogie him to Uxie's vexation. "Now have a taste of how it feels!"

"I never knew the little genius would ever talk like that!" Palkia laughs.

"You must really like Mizuki don't you?" Dialga taunts as Uxie attempts to escape without success. I forgot what it felt like to have a brother who comforted me, or a brother who annoyed the hell out of me, or a brother who always brought me back to reality. Having them all around me makes me feel like my family is back, they make me feel like I'm home in California with Haruki. I'm sure he'd ask Uxie about the secrets of the universe since he always loved learning new things. Mom would probably spend an entire month telling those brothers about her worldly experiences. I wonder, once they go back home and I go back to my world, will I ever see them again? Is it wrong that I don't want them to go any time soon?

"So, who wants more ice cream?" I ask after we finish with our assault on Uxie. "I'll go to the convenience store across the street and pick some up."

"That stuff is pretty good," says Palkia fondly while Dialga nods encouragingly.

"It's only flavored, frozen liquid, but it's quite delicious," Uxie shrugs while smoothing out his hair to resemble the top part of a dome. I put my sandals on and take out twenty bucks from my wallet. "I'll be right back."

' ' '

"Mizuki, what a pleasant surprise, I didn't expect to see you for a while, how are you?" I enter Erick's office and he greets me as if he saw me this afternoon. "Have you gathered the Pokémon?"

"Yeah I have, actually so did Risa and Mia. We split them up and we're keeping them at our places until we can get them back home. That's why none of us have been in," I explain frankly while biting into the rich chocolate ice cream.

"And they eat ice cream?" he wonders skeptically.

"Yeah, I think I got them hooked on human delicacies," I joke. "But seriously, they'll eat almost anything." He chuckles as he leans back in his chair, his desk filled with paperwork. "You know we're not working until we get them back home."

"As to be expected, you girls are willing to help anybody in need," he says as if me, Mia's, and Risa's generosity is an inconvenience to him. "I might not have employees for a long time. Do you have any leads on how and why they're here?"

"The only thing I know is that it involves Heartless." I inform him about my nightmare and he doesn't react the way everyone else did when I told them that it was Mia that snatched me. "I'm not really sure what it means, what it has to do with Mia or what she could stand for."

"Maybe there isn't any symbolism to it. Have you thought about plainly?"

"Of course but I really don't wanna, I doubt Mia would drag them out of their world," I reply uncomfortably.

"Maybe she's got an evil twin she doesn't know about," suggests Erick.

"Erick, this is no time to joke around. I promised I would bring them home."

"Well I've been thinking about how they could return to their separate regions. If the hands took them out of their separate regions then I'm sure they can be used to return them. So if you find that Heartless, perhaps you can coerce it to bring the Pokémon back. It'd be impossible to get them home any other way, that's my theory," he shrugs casually. My heart joyfully flutters as a smile curls on my face, finally a reliable clue. "Tell Uxie I said hi."

"Thanks Erick!" I rush out of his office and jog back to the hotel. But if Erick's theory holds true, then that means we can't just find the Heartless and kill it. How would we get it to do what we want? Uxie can help with that, he's a genius and Palkia's an expert on space and stuff. I'm gonna bring them back home really soon for sure. "What the-"

A knot suddenly forms in my temple, augmenting over my entire forehead while the chocolate cone splatters on the floor. The buildings around me spin wildly as the headache persists. I hear a computer beeping and a woman laughing to herself. _"I found you,"_ she says to the computer and then faces me. My new surroundings are transparent and although I feel like she's talking to me, I feel detached from the scene; my legs tell me to move but I'm frozen in place. Who the hell is this lady and what's going on? "Bring them here." The vision finishes and I drop to my hands and knees while panting like a crazed maniac on the subway train. Weird stuff like this has been happening since Dialga and Palkia helped "expand" my powers. Dialga warned me yesterday my temporal powers would fluctuate since I've been using them more than often. Was this a vision of the future or something? I don't really get it, I'll ask Dialga about it tomorrow, I've gotta tell them about what Erick said.

Once I reach the hotel, I hurry up the back stairs, run down the hall, I unlock the door and kick it open. "I've got good news!" Dialga and Palkia stop their roughhousing and immediately separate, their scarlet eyes widened. "I got a clue on how to get you guys back."

"Really? Let me hear it," Uxie says, leaning back on the side of the bed.

"It's about the Heartless-" Purple pools open up beneath each Pokémon and they scramble to escape the dark hands with the right angle fingers shooting out from them. I dive for Palkia and Dialga first, extending my hands out to both of them as pints of brownie fudge ice cream spill on the carpet. They yell frantically, trying to climb out of the pool with my arms but they're sinking fast. "Hang on!"

"Save Uxie, he's weaker than me!" Palkia shouts as the Dark slime starts creeping up his cheeks. Uxie pushes up from the floor to stop himself from drowning. I let go of Palkia and grab Uxie's hand, trying to pull both him and Dialga out. "Gaaaah!" I cry out as I turn to Palkia and his pool vanishes along with him.

"You can't save us Mizuki, you're going to hurt yourself," Uxie shouts as the huge hand clenches its hold on him and then plunges him deeper into the Dark pool. "Noo!" I holler while I'm stuck in a tug of war between Dialga and Uxie.

Uxie's head resurfaces and he shouts something that makes no sense, "It's really cold-lab!" He lets me go as he's completely submersed, his pool gone. Then I lose Dialga's grip and bang my head against the floor. The hands don't leave a trace of the Pokémon, just spilled ice cream. I get up and slump against the night-table, stunned and shocked as I look at my sweaty palms. This didn't happen, this is another dream, another nightmare I'm gonna wake up from any moment now. Come on Darkrai, let me out of this nightmare. The phone rings, it's probably the hotel telling me about a noise complaint.

"I lost them. _I lost my family again_," I realize as my eyes sting and numbness takes ahold of me. That Heartless took them from me and-and- "I have to get them back." I let a tear roll down my cheek as my heart pounds like a drum; using the night table for support, I pick myself up and stroke my hair frantically. If this happened to me, the same is gonna happen to the others. Darkrai already gave me a clue of where to go.

J.G.P.


	18. Pride

**Earlier in the night on the sixth day, ten minutes before Mizuki's loss.**

Mother, I do my best not to disappoint you. Clancy, I made a new promise to you so that I would not let myself fall into the pits of despair for the rest of my life. I was given this broken Keyblade so that I would always remember that if I disappoint others, I would be breaking all those promises I made with myself. No matter how attached I get to these Pokémon, I have to bring them back home. I will, even if it takes forever, even if people tell me to give up, I will disobey them and keep trying.

"How did you get all these juicy grapes again?" Knuckles shouts as he once again digs into the stack of grapes I wished for. Groudon and Knuckles have reduced the mountain into a hump in three days. Standing atop the altar, I look down at Knuckles and Groudon swimming in the deep purple hump. "I wished for them. Are they good? I still have not tried any of them."

"More for us to eat, huh Knuckles?" Groudon grins toothily, using her teeth to rip the plump, amaranthine grapes off their stems. They chew noisily then start spraying grape juice on each other like children playing with mud. Neither of them look annoyed, I guess that is how they have fun. I lean back on the Master Emerald, thinking about what the Pokémon said yesterday, and let a quiet sigh slip out. "You guys are disgusting!" Kyogre hollers mockingly from the sea. "I can hear you from all the way down here!" Groudon leaves the slope of grapes, a lot of them trapped in her dirt-colored hair, and leans over the edge. "Wanna have a go you whale?!"

"Try me!"

Rayquaza immediately descends from the clouds, picks up Groudon, and throws her back into the hill of grapes to Knuckles' annoyance since she crashes into him. "We're not having any of that here," says Rayquaza sternly. He returns to the clouds, probably eating more of the air particles that Azelf explained to me yesterday. Today he tried to teach me about air gliding and manipulating wind currents so I could glide on my own. I kept falling and it did not help that he was curt with me this morning. I have tried to handle his grumpiness the way Mia would, I kept to myself all day, apologized to him once to which he replied sharply, _"You aren't," _then I did not speak to him for the rest of the day.

_"You've angered him," said Groudon earlier in the day while plucking a small grape off its stem. She hardly spoke to Rayquaza but the way she suddenly came up to me was as if she could feel his aggravation in the rather windy daytime zephyrs. "What are you going to do about it?"_

_"I do not know. I do not care," I answered. Kyogre came up to the island after hearing that and surprisingly ignored Groudon completely, even after the plump, albicant-haired woman splashed her cousin, sister, whatever Groudon is to her. "You haven't angered him yet, he's annoyed but not angry. You should care."_

_"But I do not."_

_"You two are the same, proud and stubborn. Mia would've already resolved the way she did with that other dragon."_

_"I am not Mia."_

The only Pokémon on this island that has not told me to resolve anything is Azelf, either because he is not involved with the three of them or he is oblivious to it. All he told me was that it takes plenty of willpower to swallow pride. How would Mia approach this disconcerting issue with a dragon? Mia has no pride to swallow and barely any self-value so she apologizes for everything. Another apology again, but for what? "Rayquaza," I call out for him in the clouds. He descends slowly and has an uninterested look on his face. "I apologize if I have offended you recently."

"You've said that already," replies Rayquaza as if apologies disgust him.

"I will apologize as many times as I have to."

"Nobody has told you to do so." I hesitate as he waits for my response, my anger constricting my vocal cords due to his coy remark. Does everyone else on this damn island besides Knuckles know about my tattoo? "You told me that a dragon's purpose is to give into its greed and spend its life growing stronger for its greed. You said you want to be strong for the people around you." When I remain silent he continues, "I think you are being untruthful."

"How?" I barely mumble audibly.

"You wish to make up for the one you couldn't save for your satisfaction, for yourself. And you dare deem me to be beneath you?" The stirring breezes suddenly intensifies, not like when we fought against each other and I was lifted off my feet but still pretty forceful. "Are you going to deny it?"

"Is it so wrong to feel good about helping others?"

"You have tormented me about it," he says spiteful. "I've spent the past four days making you stronger for your sake alone. I don't spend my leisure time taking care of humans and worrying about their welfare, that's not my duty. I didn't understand any of that until I fell from the sky and was greeted by your sword." The howls of the wind fill in the silent hiatus. Is that what I really want? To make myself feel better about losing Clancy by vowing to save everyone? Am I that messed up? No, only selfish.

"I think we are the same," I admit begrudgingly. "Even if I am a poor little girl who is trying to save herself." When he understands the significance of the second statement, the turbulent winds die into harmless breezes. His angry, facial creases disappear yet he is stuck in a frown. Not a hateful frown but one that looks like how I picture regret would look like. "This selfish little girl wants nothing but to bring everyone to their homes. Will you allow it?"

"I need some help over here!" Knuckles grabs our attention from behind Rayquaza. Kyogre's screams rattle our standoff as Rayquaza flies over to the edge of the island. "I'll help Kyogre, Risa-!" I do not have to wait for the rest of his instructions, I take off toward Knuckles, pulling Groudon away from the hill of grapes. "Give me her other hand."

"What's going on Risa?" asks Knuckles, letting go of her other hand as I grasp the other one.

"What were you doing?" I demand exasperatedly.

"We were watching you and that guy argue and then she wanted to spar for this big juicy grape-now something's trying to pull her in!"

"Don't let me go!" begs Groudon, wincing as we struggle to keep her out of the grapes. Slowly, Knuckles and I are sliding toward the grapes and then I remember Azelf meditating in the forest. I turn to see him sprinting toward us, a black stem slithering out of the forest behind him. "Risa, get the kid!" shouts Knuckles urgently. I sprint after Azelf as he is snatched by the humongous hand and is hauled toward the forest. I slide onto the grass so I can grab his hands in time, then scramble to my feet before I am pulled forward. "Risa let go, we'll both get hurt," urges Azelf.

"I refuse!" My arm tingles but I disregard it.

"See? That's the willpower I was talking about," he says with a smile as his hands begin to slip out of mine. "I think that's why you have that Keyblade." Vehemently, he is yanked away and disappears into the forest. Groudon screams in aghast and pain, by the time I make it back to her she flies out of Knuckles' grasp and is pulled into the mountain of grapes. He and I frantically push the pile of wet grapes to the sides to find a pool of Darkness minimizing into nothing. What is happening with Kyogre?

I run over to the edge only to have my face almost knocked off by Rayquaza. He is soaring into the clouds faster than I have ever seen him fly. A dark purple hand pursues him from the ocean. It is only safe to assume that Kyogre has been taken as well…by the hand that dropped Rayquaza here a couple of days ago! As Rayquaza flies towards the city, the arm struggles to reach him but is still moving with incredible agility. "I will cut it off, fly past me!" I yell, unsure if he heard me. Then he quickly descends, makes a U-turn, and then in a flash of green zooms past me. As the hand chases him, the broken Keyblade appears in a flash of light and then I block the giant hand. It is almost twice my size, if I am not careful it could wrap its fingers around my entire body.

No matter how firmly I plant my feet, it shoves me back toward the edge of Angel Island. "Whatever you do, don't lose that hand!" Knuckles says as he gets behind me and pushes me to counter the hand.

"It took Groudon too? No!" Rayquaza bellows defiantly, keeping his distance from us. Despite both of us holding the Dark hand in place, I can hear the waves crashing against each other in turmoil, they become clearer with every second. Knuckles and I groan as we manage to keep the Dark hand at bay by the edge. Abruptly, the massive hand knocks us off-balance and we topple over the edge. "Hang on!"

Before we can hit the water, Rayquaza grabs us by the waists and swiftly drops us back on the island. The greedy, claw-like hand takes hold of his body, bringing him back to the sea. I immediately dive off the island, my hood flying off as I reach for his hand. I grab his right arm while he stares at me fearfully. "I have you!" I assure him as we meet the water's surface. We plummet into the ocean and I let out an underwater wail as I do my best to use the water to return us to the top. Damn, I do not think I can do it with the waves this violent.

"Stop already!" Rayquaza protests as water fills his lungs. "You'll drown!" And as he says that, he pulls his hand back and sends me flying out of the water. The blast of water pushes me all the way up to Angel Island and before I fall back down, Knuckles leaps up and catches me. He lands deftly and I scramble out of his arms to get back into the water as the jet stream that shot me up dies. "Risa, you can't go down there!" he grabs my wrist, stopping me from going any farther. "He's gone along with everyone else." When he releases me, I drop to my knees and pound my fists into the soil. "Where could they have gone? Risa, you have to calm down." Lightning flashes in the stormy skies as I hold back my scream that is building up in my chest, ready to burst. "We can look for them later but you need to get a grip."

I get one more slam in and then I let out a deep breath, getting to my feet. "No, they are my responsibility, I told you that. It probably happened to the others too, just stay put."

"Be careful with that thing. And come back alive." Feeling the earth shake a little under my feet, a medium-sized rock emerges from the ground and lifts me up. I should head for Mia's place first, she was the one who was in Mizuki's nightmare.

'''

Once I get there, I crash the rock into the bushes, hopping off in the nick of time. I kick the door open and find Cresselia kicking and screaming as she is dragged into the Dark pool in the wall. I quickly spot Mesprit sinking into the floor and snatch her lifeless hand. "Squeeze tightly!" I tell her but she is unconscious. Her hand easily slips out and she vanishes into the Dark pool.

"Risa, help me please!" Mia grunts from the kitchen.

"Help me!" cries out Jirachi from behind the counter. I jump over it and grab Jirachi's sleeve as we try pulling him out. "Risa, what's happening?" Mia shrieks.

"They are being taken again," I inform her as I stand up and groan. I hear hurried footsteps outside and when I turn, I see Don standing in the doorway without Darkrai. Catching on to the situation, Don dives over the counter, grabs Jirachi's shirt from his shoulders, and tries pulling him up. "I'm not letting you go Jirachi!" vows Mia tearfully.

"I don't wanna go down-" Jirachi slips out of our grasp as the malevolent hand yanks him into Darkness. While Don stumbles back, Mia and I bang into the counter and tumble to the floor.

"No! I lost him, I lost all of them!" Mia curls into a fetal position and cries out, "I failed all of them!"

"Darkrai too?" I ask Don who solemnly nods as he stands up. "The ones on my island are gone as well."

"I said I would protect them, I did this to them!" Mia starts trembling and gasping, causing Don and I to place each of our hands on Mia's shoulders. "I lost them."

"We lost ours too Mia, you're not the only one," Don says firmly. "We have to believe they aren't dead." I can see a few tears fall from Mia's eyes while she slumps against the refrigerator door, shaking like a leaf in a storm. "You said the same thing happened to yours Risa?"

"Yes," I stand up, adjusting my hood. "In any case, we have to get to Mizuki right away."

"Let's go!" Don and I speed out the door and once we make it to the main road, Mizuki crashes into Don. Fortunately his reflexes are on par and he grabs her before she falls. "Where are your Pokémon Mizuki?"

"The Heartless took them, the same thing happened to you guys? What about Mia-"

"_All of them are gone_," I cut her off and her bottom lip quivers a little. She rests her head in Don's chest and starts sniffling profusely, muttering a slew of profanities. Don and I are the only stable, tear-free people here; we exchange gloomy looks and do not say a word to each other. "Let's get inside, we have to make sense of all this," Don urges, walking Mizuki toward Mia's place. Mia has calmed down and is sitting on the bottom step with her face covered. Mizuki leaves Don's grasp and hugs Mia tightly, both of them sobbing softly on each other. I hang my head up to the ceiling, wishing I could join them. Don places a reassuring hand on my shoulder, squeezing it tightly. I guess that is his way of comforting people other than Mia.

"I know we are all upset but sitting around and crying is not going to change anything," I try to sound encouraging but it comes out solemnly. "Mizuki, Mia, stop crying, please. The Heartless will devour their hearts if we do nothing." The somber adolescents wipe their tears away, eyes puffy and bloodshot, both of their hair a mess as they separate. "They would hate it if they saw us like this. Remember the promise you made to them Mizuki?" she nods, sniffling excessively. I bring out the Keyblade and thrust it out in front of them. "This Keyblade is a reminder of the vows we made with them. We all said we would bring them back home did we not?"

"We did," says Mia with her voice cracking. Don sits next to her, rubbing her back soothingly.

"In order to do that we have to destroy the Heartless who captured them. Now we have to think about where they could have been brought to so I need you all to have a clear mind," I say to them, bending down to Mizuki. "Okay?"

"I spoke to Erick right before it happened," says Mizuki flatly while stroking her hair back in place. "He told me that only the Heartless can bring them back to their worlds since it's the one who took them in the first place."

"Shit. Anything else?"

"Uxie said something before he was taken, he said 'It's really cold' and 'lab', but I don't know what he's talking about." I let my head sink and we remain painfully silence. Clancy, please do not hate me for this, I tried my best but I was not strong enough to protect them. Groudon was preparing me for this since the first night. "I saw this woman."

"What?"

"She had dark hair and wore glasses and said 'bring them here'-I don't know, it was a stupid vision I got before all this shit happened," says Mizuki sadly. "I'm just trying to think of anything that seemed funny tonight-"

"What kind of frames were they?" wonders Don high-strung.

"I didn't pay much attention, I don't know, round I guess? They were scratched up and old."

"Don, are you okay?" Mia's calm voice regains some of its strength and then I am nearly pushed to the floor as Don hurries past me. He puts his hands on the back of his head and presses down on it. "What's wrong?"

"I might know where they are," he mumbles but everyone hears him. "I'm just finding it hard to believe-it's cold there and there's a lab there." He mutters strange things that do not make sense to any of us.

"In my nightmare, I was in a hallway with white plates everywhere. The lady was using a really big computer too, does that help?" Mizuki stands up with a hopeful twinkle in her eyes. Don nods slowly, his haematic eyes brimming with shaky confidence. "So where are they?"

"It's a long shot but it's our only lead," he looks at Mia, softening his expression and tone for her. "We can go after them once we're all calmed down. I gotta go outside and check something." As he hurries out, I follow and watch him pull something black out of the bushes and crush it in his hand, letting the pieces drop to the ground. I glance back at Mia, who comes to the door and reveals her bo staff by grasping it and sheathing it in her carrier. Mizuki joins her side, her white eyes fully intact. I squeeze the handle of the Keyblade.

"Don we're going after them, we're ready for whatever we have to face," declares Mizuki with newly found poise. "You ready?" He snorts as he claps the rest of whatever he crushed off his hands. "What? You wanna make fun of me for looking like a mess?"

"Before Darkrai was taken, he told me that he felt that the three of you have faced Darkness that normal people would never dare go up against. He admired your bravery and your willingness to face the Darkness. And that as an immortal being, I should be protecting you from the Darkness," he looks back on his conversation fondly. "And here I am _bringing you to it_."

"The sooner the better," I remind Don and he nods affirmatively. The rings on his arm shuffle up and down as he faces the path to the main road. It is about time we fulfill our promise to them.

J.G.P.


	19. The World Anew

**Two in a row to make up for those few weeks I only posted one chapter. I'm back home so I'm gonna bring this story into its final chapters.**

Metropolis Square, a crowded tourist hotspot during the day and a grownup party scene at night, is nearly empty due to the nighttime humidity. Despite the muggy feeling plaguing us, Don rushes us through the square. He's not supposed to be here because he's still technically a "criminal" in the public's eye but he's doing this for our sake. I'm fortunate enough to have a friend willing to do this for us. If Don's hunch is right, we're going to get them back tonight. But I can't stop blaming myself for losing them, I was so careless. Getting Giratina to fall asleep made him an easy target, he was fast asleep on the couch when he was grabbed and pulled into the pool of Darkness. He called for me and I couldn't reach him in time. I can't believe I let them slip out of my grasp, Jirachi, Mesprit, and Cresselia were depending on me and I let them down. All I can do now is hope that I haven't wasted time crying about them. "I'm really sorry!" I say to Don as we turn a corner and push past some people waiting to go in a bar.

"For what?"

"For crying so much. I wasted all this time."

"Me too Mia," Mizuki cuts in, keeping up with us now that Risa's in the back. "We were pretty pitiful for seven and a half minutes but we're gettin' them back."

"Don't worry about it, I'll make sure we get them back alive so I'll never have to see you cry like that again."

"Thanks Don," I reply softly. "You're always-"

"Lovebirds hurry it up, it's almost midnight and shit always goes down at midnight," Mizuki says playfully. Don turns away but I can see his cheeks are flushed. We run along in silence and I wonder where we're going to. In about thirty-five minutes, including two five minute breaks, we're finally out of Central Metropolis. We cross the Westopolis Bridge to a part of the city I've never been to. Don stops and tells us to wait as he climbs down the bridge and falls in a pile of garbage. Meanwhile the rest of us catch our breath and Mizuki gasps. "What is it?" I ask her worriedly.

"I can see past the garbage. Now I know where we are, I came here months ago. Mia, you might know what Don's talking about," notes Mizuki, her pale eyes looking around at the trash. I think about it and before I can comment, Don tells us to come down carefully. We make our way down, being cautious enough to not to slip and fall to our deaths; Don has a latch pulled up and when I drop down, I see a faintly lit tunnel that's kinda familiar to me then Don tells us to move along the left side and that no matter what, don't go on the right side. "She has weight-sensitive plates to warn her of us coming," he explains in a whisper.

"Who?" Risa questions.

"The Professor."

"You mean Egglady? What're we gonna get out of her?" Mizuki wonders. "Whatever. If we get in front of the lair I'll be able to check if they're in there so let's all hurry the hell up!" Finally we reach the end of the tunnel with no more lights to guide us but Don shuffles past us and pulls out a small ladder within the wall and uses his ring to smash through the door over our heads. He helps us out and then waits on Mizuki's technique to see if they're inside. "Yeah, they're in there. Their chakras look bleak."

The enormous lair is surrounded by barbed wires and tall, metallic walls. The hideout itself has a grand apartment style to it, with a ton of floors and no aesthetic appeal. Don guides us past the searchlights and brings us all the way to the back where he opens up a hatch. "I expected this to be like a vent, why is it so roomy?" Mizuki wonders as she bangs her head at the top. "Ouch!"

"It was meant for me to get in and out without going through all the security," he briefly explains. "Now tell us everything you see Mizuki." She squints as she peeks through the walls. "They're on the top floor, along with something huge. It looks like a mass of energy or something, I really can't make it out. Oh God, it's growing, that might the Heartless."

"From here on out everyone does whatever I say. I know this place well and I know where all the security is-I repeat you're all going to do what I say so we can get these Pokémon out of here," Don commands. "Now you're sure they're up there? We can jeopardize everything if we mess up."

"I recognize a few of their chakra systems so I can only assume so."

"We have to be silent and swift got it?" We nod in unison and then Don runs along the passageway with us following behind. None of us say a word as we sprint down the dark passageway with Don leading us without a glimmer of doubt in his step. As we go in deeper, I can feel the frigid blast of the air conditioner and it's so cold down here that I'm starting to see my breath. Thankfully Don opens a small ventilation window and we crouch down to step out one at a time. As we crawl out into the dim light, I instantly recognize the room swamped with broken robot arms and scrap metal. This is where Don got really mad when I called him Seth. I can finally understand why he was so angry-Seth's a monster, just as heartless as the Heartless, and I called Don that.

Don gestures for us to move toward the staircase doors and then he points up. We hastily hurry up the steps and Mizuki stops and mouths, _top floor_. Don nods and we keep heading up until Mizuki hesitates again. "The Heartless is on the fifth floor," she whispers, covering her mouth. "Without a doubt it's the Heartless."

"But you said there was something else besides the Pokémon up there," Risa points out.

"I said it could be! But that thing-" Mizuki gazes at me with a frightened look on her face.

"What?" I ask but Mizuki shakes her head and gives me a "don't worry about this" look. "Don, should we split up to stop this Heartless?"

"We should, evenly though. If they're up there then the Pokémon are in the sound proof room where the Professor ran tests on you," Don informs me with guilt teeming in his eyes. Risa heads to the top of the stairs, her Keyblade in hand. "I will take care of it myself," she assures dauntlessly. "You three keep going."

"What happened to not splitting up?" Mizuki raises her voice.

"I know you'll take care of it," Don nods to her confidently to both my shock and Mizuki's. "Okay the rest of us to the top floor."

"Good luck Risa," I say as we dash upstairs and she exits onto the floor. I wonder how much farther we have to go, these stairs are pretty steep. But our adrenaline is pumping so there's no way we're stopping, I don't care that with every step I take, my legs become heavier. Once we reach the top, we hear a machine humming furiously. Don opens the automatic door for Mizuki and I and we step inside carefully. There's the huge control panel with flashing lights and behind that is the special glass wall that was used to keep me trapped in that horrible room. "That's strange," mutters Don to himself. "Her lounge room should be here."

"Guys, look!" Mizuki peeks through a sliding door in the corner of the room and Don and I look inside. A kaleidoscopic sphere the size of a basketball pulses as it stays afloat, shining like stain glass crystal ball. I notice several pipes on the ceiling leading to inside the room harboring the augmenting, colorful sphere and then I back away. "Mizuki, where are they?" I demand and then she hurries away from the door and is about to tell me but freezes, her gaze trailing past my shoulder. "Mizuki, tell me where they are!"

"Mia? Don? Did you come back for a visit?" The Professor who Don used to work for comes out of a well-concealed trapdoor, her brunette hair unkempt as she wipes her lenses, highlighting the droopy, dark bags under her eyes. Don stands protectively in front of us, glowering at her. "I don't recognize you though," she looks at Mizuki expressionlessly.

"You tried to take away my fake Chaos Emerald nine months ago," Mizuki reminds her, marveling at the Professor as she puts her decrepit glasses on.

"That's some memory you got."

"What the hell are you doing with that?" Mizuki points at the pulsing sphere inside the former lounge room.

"Don, I thought you would be forever loyal to me," she disregards Mizuki. "You said that together we would surpass my brother and make him a shadow in my limelight. Remember that?"

"Not fondly," retorts Don.

"You left me for Mia and this girl? I can't compete with the youth," pines the Professor as she smooths out her lab coat. "Please don't interfere, I'm conducting an experiment right now and it would be nice if you would let me carry on."

"They're over here!" Mizuki cries out, pressing her head to the glass wall. "Oh God, what're you doing to them?"

"You guys know about the Pokémon too? Then you understand why I'm doing this. What's with those unhappy faces? Did you all meet them?" she asks while walking towards us. Don pushes me back as he backs away and the Professor looks inside the sliding door gleefully. "That's growing fast." Now that I'm with Mizuki, I press my face against the glass, gaping at inside. Twelve pods are aligned along the walls and the same pipes from the ceiling are connected to the pods; I recognize the Pokémon inside the pods, their looks of agony and torture making my heart pound like a drum. "Don why did you abandon me, you would've been the first person to witness this."

"Witness what?"

"The birth of a new world," she says matter-of-factly. Mizuki and I turn away to stare at the Professor, who clears her throat. "After drawing theories of what could've happened to the girls' worlds, I hypothesized that it was possible to create a new world out of the Darkness that shrouds their worlds. Did you think I sat there and did nothing with all the data I analyzed from when the girls crashed here? Their disturbance not only tampered with your ability to find the Chaos Emeralds but gave them the temporary, spatial abilities to do so! When you showed me the data from the girl's fake Chaos Emerald, I couldn't do a thing with it. However when you brought Mia to me, I analyzed her and found unreadable data composed differently than the pseudo-Chaos Emerald. Let's call the data from the fake Chaos Emerald _D_ and Mia's data _DL_. After spending months trying to decode DL and D, I finally did thanks to the Heartless' assault on this world. Once I made the database able to encrypt all kinds of spatial and other worldly matter such DL and D, I realized something. The gases surrounding the girls were composed of similar matter from this world and that's when I decided to carry out a new plan after Don foiled the first one."

"The first plan? The plan to destroy this world?" I guess. It was right after Seth left me here and I had to convince Don to stop her.

"Precisely. The new plan was to materialize a new world that would overlap this one. The Chaos Emeralds weren't going to be enough so I had to find other sources of energy. I spent so long researching different kinds of worlds that had energy sources that could clone this world's matter compositions and then I came across the Pokémon universe. The Pokémon are practically inexhaustible, l_ike Chaos Emeralds but with souls_, which I will elaborate on later, and contain matter compositions needed to form a universe-earth, water, a stable atmosphere, temporal and spatial stability, universal darkness similar to antimatter and universal light similar to stars. Life would be sustained with those alone but what about the hearts and souls of the living beings there?"

"They would carry knowledge, they would be empathetic to each other, and have resolves to carry out. The other ingredients took a while for my scientific mind to grasp but my exposure to Mia gave me the answers I needed. Every living thing-including worlds and planets-needs a heart to harbor souls and within these hearts we have Light and Darkness. The aspirations and fears that come to us in the form of nightmares and dreams also make up the Light and Darkness within us-I never thought something like that could be analyzed but I was proven wrong when I researched these extraterrestrials. With just these, it is possible to create a world, maybe even restore one-"

"For the sake of an experiment you did all that?!" screams Mizuki, trying to get past Don. "You brought them here so you could you could play around with test tubes?"

"I had my brother help me with few things here and there, I don't deserve all the credit," she protests jokingly, making Don's arms shake with anger. "The Heartless below here brought this plan to motion. Thank you Don and Mia."

"For what?" Don utters in horror.

"For getting me a more obedient partner, I didn't have you kidnap Mia and run tests on her for sick pleasure. I was able to match her Darkness to the pseudo-Chaos Emerald's and I found some similarities. When the Heartless attacked this world a month ago, I saw them with my own two eyes-they are creatures that travel to different worlds seeking hearts and exploit the Darkness in them, thus adding more of them to their numbers. After briefly analyzing one of them, their energy and the fake Emerald's came to a perfect match. Draining some of Mia's Darkness before it merged with her Light on her birthday, my personal Heartless came to be. I utilized its ability to break through universal barriers by ordering it to bring these Pokémon here so I can try this experiment. When they transformed into humans, it interfered with my Heartless' ability and instead of bringing them directly here, it scattered them all over this place. I spent a while trying to track them down but then I took a break. Out of sheer boredom I figured, why not tap into the watch you were wearing Don and see how you were doing? I figured you threw it out since I tapped in and it was in the bushes. As soon as I caught one of them leaving the house, they showed up on my radar again and were brought back to where they belong."

"Are you insane Professor?" Don yells. "By creating a new world, you'd be destroying this one! Talking about hearts and frivolous things like you're some god. Mia, Mizuki, get inside and get them out of those pods!"

"You evil bitch!" Mizuki ducks under Don's arm and lunges at the Professor, both of them falling to the floor. "What's gonna happen to them, to the rest of us?"

"As Don said, this world will perish and begin anew, _nothing will survive_. I will live since I'll be in my disaster room and the Pokémon will die way before the world is made," she says realistically. "They might have had a chance if they stayed in their true forms, but reverting from their colossal sizes into puny, pseudo-humans ensures their death."

"Noo!" Mizuki grabs her collar and slams her head against the floor. The Professor moans softly but shakes her head as if trying to shake the pain out.

"They shouldn't have changed into humans," the Professor responds casually. "Don't worry, they can still be used after they die! Their power originates from their hearts. I can probably restore your worlds too if this experiment is successful. You can all hide in my disaster room so you can witness it yourselves."

"Not like this, not at the expense of their lives!" replies Mizuki vehemently.

"Those aren't actually humans, they don't think like we do. They're more like animals-no, not even-"

"Over my dead body you're getting away with this!" spits Mizuki, getting off the Professor and backing away. Pulling out the bo staff, I smash the keypad needed to enter the room and the sliding doors on both sides open. The screams and wails from the Pokémon pour into the laboratory like a wave. "Go inside, I'll take care of the Professor," says Don. I run past the Professor before she can grab my ankle and together Mizuki and I enter the scream filled room.

"Heartless, stop them!" commands the Professor. When I glance at her through my peripheral vision, she is radiating a dark mauve aura like Seth did when he fought with Don so long ago. When I turn back to the wailing Pokémon, dark purple fingers rise from the floor and stop at the ceiling, blocking us from going farther. I instantly strike at the Heartless' arm and it feels like I'm hitting a steel wall. I glance at Mizuki who is using her bare hands but she's not making progress either. "I'm not letting anyone interfere with this experiment," the Professor's apathy snaps into aggravation.

J.G.P.


	20. My Blind Faith

How long would it take to create a new world? How long would it take for the Pokémon to die once all their power is used up? How long would it take for me to break through this damn arm?

With a sudden burst of energy, I slam my fists into the wall of Darkness. It's no use, it's like me trying to tear down a brick wall with a pillow. I take a break when I get a glimpse of my purple, bruised knuckles. "I have to see this experiment to the end Don. If it brings any consolation, I'm only using the Pokémon's souls and relying on their bodies to keep them alive for a short while," states Egglady apathetically. "By the way, you two won't break through. That Heartless was made of durable material. It was made to withstand a lot of pressure."

"Stop the machine now Professor," yells Don.

"I'm about to make a discovery that could change the way we see other worlds," she says. "If I can create a world, just imagine how much further I can go...how much more Pokémon I could use as inexhaustible fuel. I already told your friends I could restore their worlds if my hypothesis is right."

"You're sick. You're fucking sick," Don growls, the menacing sound making my skin prickly through the chaos. I hear the brunette gasp as if Don just ripped her heart out of her chest, followed by a crunch, a thud, and heavy, quick breaths. I'm too focused on breaking through this wall to see what he did.

"I'm here guys! We'll get you out, promise," I yell as I bring my white eyes back and mercilessly jab the thick wall. The pipes and wires connected to the pods are draining the chakra right out of them and carry the energy to the room with the expanding sphere, aka a new world if one of us doesn't break though.

"You can't get-aaugh-it's-!" I barely make out what Uxie says despite the ear-splitting cries of agony surrounding me.

"We will!" I object as I desperately pound my fists into the wall. Even with Mia's staff crashing against the other arm, she can't make an opening. All of this suffering just to test a theory, putting them through all this pain to prove a hypothesis, this woman disgusts me. I don't give a crap that it's gonna help us get our worlds back, I won't let it happen at the Pokémon's expense, I can't let it happen. And to bring them here using a Heartless made from Mia is just unreal. That explains why Mia's chakra system and the Heartless' are almost identical. But we need that Heartless alive so we can bring these guys back.

Shit, I forgot to tell Risa. "Risa, whatever you do, don't kill it! We need it to be weakened," I yell through the floor. With any luck she can hear me. "Don't kill it!"

"Smart kid," sputters the Professor between fast-paced breaths and coughs thick with either phlegm or blood.

"We have to keep trying," Mia shouts while swing the staff at the arm like a batter. She's getting tired too. My arms turn into bricks and I crumple to the floor as I pant furiously. My ears are clogged up and my heart is trying to break out of my chest. There's no way in hell I can stop now, pick yourself up and smash through this arm. The arm that supports the hand that ripped my brothers from me, the hand that grabbed me in my dreams. The floor shakes violently, bringing the unbalanced, fatigued Mia down to the frigid tiled-floor. I can hear an inhuman cry from the lower level. I look at Mia and she gapes at me from the other side, to make sure we both heard the same thing. The only thing that could've caused that is Risa kicking Heartless ass. "Keep it going Risa! Come on!" I shout while leaning against the Heartless arm, my hearing gradually returning. One of Don's rings attempts to drive through the sturdy wall but fails as it ends up clanging next to me.

"I'm going to try turning off the machine," says Don. "It's no use trying to break through those arms. The sphere's growing."

I was powerless to save my family back then and fast forward to now, it's déjà vu. Against every muscle in my body, I rise to my feet, pressing my hands to the tile walls for support. I can't make out the Pokémon's voices, their cries have merged into one chaotic reverberation. When I throw another sloppy punch, my hand throbs as if someone just stuck a dagger in it and I slump against the dark mauve arm. "This is fucking hopeless," I scream while sweat rolls down my nose and cheeks. Come on, think, think, use your brain, you made them a promise! Uxie's words float in my head like a ghost's whisper, _Faith is the unique Light that only you have...y__ou can see things without actually seeing them, that's what having faith is. _Seeing things without seeing them, he's said that to me so many times. I revert back to my normal sight, drowning out all the ear-shattering wails and Mia's anguished cries.

My world fell to Darkness. No, that's wrong, when a world is lost to Darkness it's not completely gone, _it is still there waiting for the hearts of Light to gather and restore it._

The Light has always been there, it has always remained there. It just became weak 'cause I wasn't strong enough, Dori's Darkness overpowered my Light. This Heartless, Egglady, they're trying to overpower my Light now. That pisses me off.

I push myself up and shut my eyes. I relentlessly punch the Heartless arm, ignoring the pangs from my hands and my brick arms. After the fourth blow it trembles. "Mizuki, your hands!" Mia cries out. I open my eyes to see them engulfed in a greyish-cyan light. Then an orange color surges through my wall, causing it to fluctuate more violently than ever. Turning to Mia, I see her bo staff's markings glowing bright tangerine as she repeatedly strikes the wall. With every swing, an angry, exhausted scream erupts from her chest. "We can do this, keep going!" I urge as the two of us go back and forth like tennis players at Wimbledon. I stop for a second, turn to Don tapping on the huge keyboard, and yell at him over the Pokémon. "Can't you turn off this thing?"

"I think so."

"Can you or can you not?"

"Worry about breaking through. I'll take care of this," reassures Don while his hands move like those master computer hackers in movies. "I've watched the Professor long enough to figure out how to work this." As my arms cramp up once more, I let out an exhausted grunt as I jab the sturdy wall two more times. Suddenly they retract from the ceiling and vanish into the floor; I drop to my knees as sweat drips down my chin.

"Hang on!" Mia sprints to the nearest pod containing the suffering Pokémon Cresselia and tries prying the lid open. After catching my breath, I attempt to open Uxie's pod first. "I'm not giving up on you guys," I assure him furiously. "So don't give up on me. Don't give up on me." Uxie's eyes are shut tight as he's screaming, his gem's light flickering like a dying light bulb. I step back to look at all three siblings representing emotions, knowledge, and willpower, I look toward the opposite wall where Mia is and there's Cresselia and Darkrai, the Light and Darkness that lives within our dreams and nightmares. In the center lies Rayquaza, Kyogre, and Groudon, the sky, the water, and the earth in perfect harmony, the Temporal Pokemon and the Spatial Pokemon next to them, and then behind me is Giratina and Jirachi, the Darkness and the Light of worlds. It's possible that with us-now's not the time for that!

The machine's angry humming dies suddenly, the chakra flow in the pipes ceases, and the pods' lids open automatically. The Pokemon's united cry is silenced, as if their suffering and pain was the only thing keeping them alive; one by one, the Pokémon drop out like birds falling out of the sky, water spilling out of Kyogre's pod. I manage to catch two of the siblings while I topple to the floor and hear Mia's frantic voice from the left side, "Please wake up! We need you guys to wake up."

"Guys, I know you're not dead. Come on, come on," I shake Mesprit and Uxie a little but neither of them respond or open their eyes. I get them off me and listen for each of their pulses. "Come on, wake up, we're bringing you home right now!"

"They're not breathing," Don states firmly from where Rayquaza and his group are. "None of them are. The Professor killed-"

"Would you shut the hell up?" I snap as I hurry over to Darkrai and Cresselia and flip them on their backs. "Get up!" They answer with silence as they lie side by side as if stuck in their own hazardous dream worlds. "I should've listened to you earlier Darkrai, should've paid more attention to what you were trying to say. I'm so fucking retarded," I mumble while I rake through my hair with both hands.

"Please, please, don't die," begs Mia ruefully from where Palkia and Dialga are. "We came all this way to save you so please wake up!"

Don shakes Rayquaza, Groudon, and Kyogre desperately, then bangs his fist against the plain white tile as if he bears a grudge against it. I wish we could've came sooner, I wish I could've realized what Uxie meant earlier so I could've stopped this from happening. Wait a minute, maybe that's all I need. I stumble to my feet, looking for a child's body and find Jirachi lying next to Giratina.

"You said you granted wishes right?" I pick up Jirachi's lifeless body, his immature body. "I wish for everyone to be saved. You don't have to hold back anymore, just make my wish come true." I glance at Mia whispering something to Giratina and then collapses on his chest in tears. "You said you could make wishes come true so I wish you guys were alive again…come on!" I pin him against my chest, closing my eyes and gulping back my sobs. Mia comes over to me and pushes his hair back tenderly while her tears fall onto his paler than usual face. "Jirachi, I'm so sorry I let this happen," she says softly as she rubs the triangles under his eyes.

"I wish for everyone to be alive, please do this for me." The teal wish tag on the back of his shirt begins to glow brightly and unfamiliar lettering gets scribbled on it. As I look around the room, I see all the human Pokémon cloaked in green light and hovering over the floor, leaving us three aghast. Jirachi's star-shaped hair flutters lusciously along with the rest of his oversized clothes; suddenly the eye on his chest opens. It looks at me and Mia curiously and becomes a crease on his shirt instantly after awakening. After a minute of being blanketed in light, the Pokémon drop. "Bring them back," I scream hopelessly as Mia scoops the child in her arms. My cry echoes the desperation and melancholy in my voice off the walls, "_Bring back my family!_"

That useless feeling settles in my chest when I listen to Don's anguished swears and Mia's stifled sobs. Why did I think I could transcend death with hope, why did I think that little boy could? It is stupid to believe in something that can't be done.

"You can't…wish for the same thing. Twice," the child mutters in Mia's arms.

I have to blink a few times and look at Mia to affirm we heard the same utterance. When her glossy, tear filled eyes widen, I look at Jirachi while covering my mouth and nose. "You heard me? Jirachi, you heard me? You're awake?"

"You were yelling. Of course I heard you," he grumbles while Mia presses him to her chest. "Jirachi! You're alive!" The Pokémon's still breaths are replaced with exhausted grunts and moans, such beautiful sounds. I rub the top his head for three seconds, then scramble to my feet and rush towards a haggard Dialga and a grimacing Palkia.

"You two!" Before the two dazed Pokémon can utter my name, I wrap my arms around both their heads. "Don't die on me like that."

"Mizuki!" Uxie comes from behind to hug my waist, digging his face into my back. I hear more gleeful outcries from Mesprit and Kyogre as they wobble towards Mia with relieved smiles, embracing her warmly. I pull away from Palkia and Dialga, bending over to attend to Uxie. "You saved our lives Mizuki," marvels Dialga.

"You spent your wish on us," Palkia realizes in awe. Uxie releases me and I get up to look around the room. Mia is hugging Mesprit and Cresselia, tears of happiness streaming down her baby cheeks while Don helps Darkrai to his feet and says something to him. Whatever it was, it makes Darkrai smile faintly. Dialga lifts me up exuberantly in a twirling hug while Palkia solemnly reflects on what happened, "I couldn't feel anything, I couldn't even think. It was like sleeping but without knowing when I would wake up. I saw a green star shining over me and I heard you screaming for Jirachi to grant your wish. Your voice brought life back into my arms and legs. How did you know he would hear you?"

"I had faith obviously," I reply, hugging Dialga back as he sets me down, his knees about to buckle from my weight. I scurry over to Rayquaza and Groudon, who look worse than the others. Palkia and Dialga slump lazily against the opened pods, going on and on about the same stuff, "She saved us!" She brought us back!", "I can't believe she did it."

"How are you guys feeling?" I ask worriedly.

"Where's…Risa? What-happened to her?" asks Rayquaza with a feeble groan, slumping against the wall. Despite his thin frame, he pulls the hurt Groudon to sit up. All the color has drained from their dark faces, metaphorically speaking anyway. "Where is she?"

"Fighting the Heartless that brought you guys here."

"I'm so glad you're okay," Mia says as she hugs Kyogre again, soaked in her sweat and tap water from the pod. Rayquaza grimaces at me as he tries sitting up too quickly and makes a strained grunt. "We have to help her. Risa needs us now."

"I know, I know, just let me gather my thoughts for a second," I tell him as my heart pounds in avid joy but then I'm grabbed by Palkia and noogied so hard my brain cells are being smushed. "Hey, lemmie go!"

"You're the reason we're all alive Mizuki. I thought it was really over for us, I'm never letting you go," remarks Palkia sincerely.

"I didn't expect you to be our savior," comments Giratina as he struggles to his feet but can't get up. Mia leaves Cresselia's embrace to face Giratina, tears still streaming down her cheeks. She's such a crybaby but I still love her. "Did my death upset you?" She stares at him in disbelief as she paces toward him.

"Of course it did." She sinks to her knees while Giratina studies her face as if he's never seen somebody crying up close. "It did." She wraps her arms around the surprised Pokémon, sobbing quietly into his chest. His arms remain at his sides, unsure of how to react to a thirteen year old girl crying on him. He oddly watches her shoulders jolt as her diaphragm contracts abruptly from her constant sniffles. I don't get him, maybe only Mia does. I notice Don smiling at Mia the way my dad did whenever he watched my mom do something she loved.

"What about the Heartless?" Azelf asks me after Palkia releases me from his endearing headlock. "What're we going to do about that?"

"We'll help Risa subdue it," Rayquaza answers for me impatiently as Kyogre and Groudon lean against him. Mia helps Giratina to his feet and he slumps against her, almost knocking her off balance. I go to them to even out the weight and ask, "What about the kids?"

"Got them," Dialga affirms while he carries Mesprit on his back, shrugging a little. Azelf and Uxie wave at me as they hang over Palkia's shoulders like wet towels. Jirachi wobbles to Mia and leans against her sheepishly.

"Thank you for saving them," Mia says gratefully to the clown-faced psychic.

"Mizuki was the one yelling at me to grant her wish," he snaps. Mia and I chuckle together, bending over as our chuckle turns into full blown laughter. We stand up straight when we remember that a full-grown man and child are putting all their weight on us. "Are we going home now? I'm tired," Jirachi asks. Ah crap, I forgot about the "conscious for a week" thing he mentioned five days ago.

"Yeah," I reply confidently. "We're getting you home now. Can you keep your eyes open for a little while longer?"

"Mmm-hmm."

"I got these two. Excuse me," Don says as he scoops up Cresselia, cradling her in his arms while Darkrai has his arm over his shoulders. "Let's go down to-wait! The sphere." Everyone hurries out of the room and Don goes to check on that pulsing sphere.

"Well?" I ask.

"There's no new world going to be made tonight. I hope you die here, Professor," he looks down next to him. When I gaze past him, I see the Professor curled in the corner with her eyes closed and a dark blue bruise on her left cheek. Metallic-smelling blood leaking from her lips and oozing into a crimson puddle. Don kicks her frames to the huge keyboard, stained with her blood, and grips Cresselia tightly; Mia nearly gags at the sight.

"Why not kill her?" mutters Darkrai while covering his nose with his scarf, the scent clearly bothering him.

"Death is too kind," he answers scornfully. Another earthquake almost brings us down but it stops and is followed by a powerful boom.

J.G.P.


	21. Warrior's Greed

I open the double doors and skulk along the blank tile floor as I look for anything that looks out of the ordinary. Finding a Heartless should not be a tedious task and destroying it should not be a problem either. Fighting the Heartless for nine months has given me plenty of experience with a wide variety of Heartless. I turn the corner, briefly surveying the void hallway and step out of my hiding spot. Why do I need to hide? Clearly it is hiding from me. "Come out. I am going to put an end to you right now," I dauntlessly announce as I wait for something to happen, anything. I listen to the muffled noises above the ceiling, sounding mostly like Mizuki and Don. "They are all counting on me to this."

A mucky, eerie noise emanates from the other side of the hallway; a girl seeps out from under the floor, a girl whose appearance I recognize all too well. I hold my breath as she snarls, her head lowered to the floor like a corpse. "Mia? You should be with Mizuki-who are you?" I realize that it is not her when a deep crimson-violet liquid permeates from her chest and engulfs her entire body from hair to shoes. She lifts her head and reveals gleaming yellow eyes opening wide as a sadistic smile curls across her face. Four arms with claw-like hands protrude from her back as she bends over. "That is all I need to know," I mutter as the Keyblade appears in my hand. Dark Mia releases a high-pitched shriek as she clumsily rushes to me. Using the narrowness of the hallway, I jump side to side and bring the Keyblade down on her head. Its violet hand slams me against the ceiling and then throws me back down like a child fed up with their broken toy. I land on my feet and lunge at it again.

It launches another one of its arms at me and I slice through the stem, its hand flying off. Before I can reach it, a newly grown hand snatches me, chucks me to the floor, and then flicks me back to the wall as if I am a bug. I peel off the wall with a pained grunt but quickly get to my feet. "You are going to die here," I mumble as I wipe some sweat from my eyes. Two pairs of arms sprout from Dark Mia's back as it roars triumphantly. As it shoots its arms at me, I hit one out of my way, hop onto the other one, using it as a bridge to the Heartless. When I get close enough I beat it against the wall furiously and slice one of its hands off with the jagged edge of my Keyblade. It shrieks in pain until I jump off it and double kick it into the wall.

"…their lives!" I make out Mizuki's angry voice upstairs. Something is going on up there and I have to join them when I finish here. The Heartless' hands pushes itself out of the crater and it charges at me with an extra set of hands. It drops its jaw and a mass of Darkness the size of pineapple forms inside its mouth, causing me to retreat back. Dark Mia's angular fingers try pinning me to the floor as I leap back toward the corner I hid in earlier. The mass of Darkness barely misses me and explodes on impact of the wall, causing a slight tremor in the demolished hallway. I catch my breath quietly as I think of how I can defeat the monster, waiting for the smoke to clear. This floor will fall apart soon and who knows how that will affect Mizuki and the others up there? "No time to think," I mumble as I back away from Dark Mia's claw-like fingers that scrape the wall. The monster pursues me as I fall back but abruptly freezes as I hear someone who I cannot recognize yelling, "…stop them!"

Dark Mia raises its head and sends two of its arms through the ceiling. While it is distracted, I run up to it and shoot a ray of Light from the Keyblade. Its arms keep it rooted as it recoils, then returns with a punch that I dodge with a backflip; as I unfold from the somersault it snatches me and has me dangling above the floor. It releases me then pinballs me with its other two free hands until yet another hand hammerfists me into the floor. I hack out thick blood as I lie in the crater defenselessly and then I feel a hard ball crash against my back, exploding on impact. The hallway shakes intensely compared to the first time, making it harder for me to stand up.

When I manage to wobble out of the crater, my head as light as a feather, I spit out more blood. I need to recover, I cannot go on like this. When I plunge the Keyblade into the floor, the tiles fly off the walls and enclose me in a small dome, I can hear some dirt and rocks splatter against it. That must be from outside, right? Why is everything spinning, is this a trick? I curl into a ball and quietly lie in the dark safety of my dome. Something pounds repeatedly against the reinforced dome, probably Dark Mia. My head and my chest jolt each time its fists knock on the dome. "Risa…"

"Mizuki?" I whisper softly as I struggle to stay awake. Her barely audible voice is swallowed by the furious shriek of the Heartless but I try my best to hear her through all the noise. "…be weakened! Don't kill it!" Kill what?

The next time I open my eyes, I feel a few tiles and rock debris on my kimono. Something warm and metallic-tasting drools from my lips, I spit again and wipe it from my chin. A small hole is opening up in my dome thanks to the relentless assault of the Heartless. No wait, what did Mizuki say for me to do with it? My stigma throbs, reminding me of the order she gave me and alerting me to the Heartless' hands tearing my dome asunder. _Weakened, _she said. _Don't kill it._ Why? I should not try to make reason of her words, I am in serious trouble here and Mizuki usually knows what she is talking about. I take in a deep breath and exhale despite my mind telling me to lay back down and fall asleep. I cannot do that while this Heartless roams this place and poses as a threat to my friends. It will devour their hearts and I cannot allow it, they are _my friends, my promises._

Dark Mia's hand finally gets into the dome and I catch it and yank it down. I sprint along its thin arm, leaving my decrepit dome to collapse on top of the Heartless' fingers, and shoot a beam of Light at the creature. It hits and as it is reeling back, I send the tiles and stones crashing into its head. "Do not stop!" I tell myself as I place my hands on the walls and suddenly healthy green moss covers the hallway. Dark Mia removes its other two hands from the ceiling and makes a new crater in the wall as it flies backwards. I pat down the moss, the growth continuing rapidly, and force vines to wrap around its body and numerous arms. It jerks persistently as I retreat to the double doors and make it out of that suffocating hallway. I slump against the wall with an exhausted sigh as I stare at the staircase. That thing is trapped there, I can finally rest and then join the others. Then all the pain I suppressed while I fought piles up, shoving me into an uncomfortable slumber.

By the time I wake up, there is a lot of chatter and clamor coming from the upper levels. I push myself off the wall and climb the first step until I notice Dark aura slithering next to my feet. It is seeping from the double doors like noxious gas. What the hell is happening in there? I stopped the Heartless. I turn around and shove the doors open to find the vines broken and the Heartless gone. Following the trail of Dark stains along the hall, I come across Dark Mia amassing a spiraling ball of Darkness in her mouth, bigger than the other ones. I lunge toward it and the Heartless pounds its fist into the floor, causing the hallway to tremble and knock me off balance. I fall to my knee clumsily and hold the Keyblade out in front of me as the lights over my head flicker out, leaving us in more darkness. The sphere creates strong winds that blow my hood down and push me back slightly; I do not see the sphere leave its mouth but I definitely feel it. I am driven deep into the crater in the wall as Darkness coats me for a few seconds. The Keyblade falls a few feet away from me and then vanishes into cyan leaves made of Light. Like a burgeoning garden, pangs sprout all over my body. The beast thrusts its palm at me, crushing my body and suffocating my face. Adrenaline fuels me to pry off its fingers as it pushes back brutally. Pain swallows me up, making every attempt to remove its hand fail, making every muscle in my body ache and staying conscious a _difficult _struggle.

Every part of me wants to give up in this moment. But there are people I have to save, people I made promises to, and this monster is not going to take it all away. It has no right to take away everything I have worked so hard for. "If I have to die to fulfill my promises then I will," I declare as I manage to hold back its palm with my sweaty hands.

"Oh my God!" Is that Mizuki?

"Risa!" That sounds vaguely like Mia. It is hard to tell with my ears clogged up, my body aching so much that I am starting to feel nothing.

The familiar voices down the hallway help me realize the sensations of real pain; I suppress the throbbing aches in my body. "We'll get you out of this, hang on!" Rayquaza's muffled voice pierces through my loud heartbeat. I cannot let the others get involved in my battle, I said I would take care of it. Groaning while doing so, I manage to kick the hand off me with both legs and drop to the Dark-stained floor. Summoning the periwinkle Keyblade, I send it spinning towards the Heartless who easily blocks it with its giant hands and then I slam my fists against the wall to cause vines from Dark Mia's sides to pin it against the wall. This time the vines are spiked and I create layers atop layers until its body and arms are wrapped in a cocoon of beefy vines. "Holy shit. That was awesome Risa!" someone shouts, making me wince.

"Are you okay?" some other girl asks worriedly. Mia, it is Mia. The other girl shouting was Mizuki.

"I do not know," I mutter as I drop on my knees and then touch my head, realizing my face is uncovered in front of everyone. Something warm is pouring down my temple and it does not feel like sweat. "Risa, can you hear me?" someone else asks me, a male. Distinguishing everyone's voices and faces makes the drummer in my head beat against my skull mercilessly. The monster growls, scratches the vines, waking me from my daze.

"Yeah," I mutter to whoever is speaking to me. After sighing, I recognize Rayquaza bringing me to my feet, probably the one talking to me. "Is everyone safe?" I ask.

"Thanks to you and your friends," he answers while walking me toward the group. Too weak to lift my bloody and sweaty head, my head sinks as if the Heartless is pushing my head down.

"You were right," I mumble as I wobble beside him. "I am selfish." He simply snorts into the air as he tugs on my arm. All my hair is out, hanging over my shoulders, patting my thighs, and strands of it in my face.

"I expected no less from you," Don states confidently, glancing at the cocoon and back at me. "That's why I trusted you to do this." My head swirls for a little bit and when I try standing on my own, the weight is too much for my knees and I fall back onto the lanky Rayquaza. I let out a cough thick with blood, wiping it away with my sandal. The blotch of red smudges on top of the dried layer of Darkness spreading from tile to tile. "You need to lay down," says Don.

"There's very little time for that," Dialga points out just as the Heartless' fingers rip through the first layer of vines.

J.G.P.


	22. What is Self-Deprecate?

Seeing Risa's actual face only proves that she's someone who I think of as an indomitable fighter, a force to be reckoned with, someone who shows no mercy in battle, and someone who fights harder than any of us. There was a part of me that wanted to be like her, strong, unwavering, agile, and distant. I won't lie, I still do want to be a bit like her-she's the perfect person in my mind and I still think so despite the many, _many _scars that plague her burnt sienna face.

Risa slumps off Rayquaza to lean against the wall, raising her head to the blown out lights. The hallway's only source of light is from the stairwell creeping in and out as the double doors swing back and forth. "What do I need to do?" asks Risa haggardly as blood streams from the side of her face. "The Heartless is breaking free." I hear the cocoon rattling and tearing simultaneously and the Heartless' muffled cries of bloodlust around the corner.

"This place is unstable, escaping is our first priority," Uxie says. "And you are in no position to do anything but rest."

"What about getting you home?" protests Mizuki. "Now's the time, there's no way we can go back to the way things were. That thing is gonna follow us and without Egglady controlling it, it'll probably give in to its natural instincts."

"Defeating it is our only option," Giratina says as he removes himself from our shoulders.

"Defeating it means we can't return to our worlds," objects Palkia as he now has Azelf and Uxie in each of his arms. "We need that Heartless alive."

"Fighting it in here isn't safe anymore," says Rayquaza. "We need to retreat and get enough time to regather our strength and subdue it. But we need some time." Just then Risa peels herself off the wall and wobbles toward the other end of the hallway. "Risa what're you doing?" he asks worriedly. She spreads her legs out, bends them, and with a yell of exhaustion mixed with frustration she slams her hands to the floor just as a dozen, massive hands pry open the spiky cocoon. The floor rumbles while everyone is brought to the floor; I crawl toward the corner to where Rayquaza is and watch rocks of all shapes and sizes shoot through the walls to impede the Heartless' path to us. The Heartless roars disdainfully as more jagged boulders from outside assemble messily in the hallway, following the command of Risa's fingertips. I never knew how long Risa's hair was until the rest of it flies out of its tuck, it's even longer than my mom's.

The last rock is shoved into place and Risa stumbles back into Rayquaza's arms, blood gushing from her nostrils. The quake continues even after Risa stopped her defensive assault on the concealed Heartless. "Let's go!" Azelf shouts as the Pokémon pour out the double doors. Rayquaza gets Risa to fall onto his back, secures her hands together, and they burst through the double doors. Don yells out where to go while evacuating everyone from the hallway and when Mizuki and Giratina are out, he helps me up. "I wish Risa could've wrecked this entire place," states Don as he uses his rings to break the doors down. He takes my hand and we sprint out of the trembling hallway. When we see Darkrai at the bottom of the stairwell on all fours, we leap down the steps, pick him up, and follow Mizuki and the others.

"You guys okay back there?" Mizuki shouts from the lower staircase.

"Just worry about Risa," Don yells back gruffly as the rest of Darkrai's weight dissipates. "I'll take him, just catch up to the others."

"Are you sure?" I jog next to them.

"You all need to be safe, now hurry up."

"How selfless of you," Darkrai mutters groggily.

' ' '

When Don and Darkrai meet up with us, I let out a relieved sigh and turn to everyone else lying on the barren ground. Don turned off the security system from inside so even though the spotlights glare at us, no alarms go off. Cresselia and Mesprit used her powers to heal Risa's wounds and stop the blood flow but now she's totally unresponsive. They had to open up her kimono and found a lot of cuts and bruises on her chest, she got hurt a lot but kept fighting. She's amazing. "We owe a lot to you," Cresselia says softly to the unconscious Risa while holding a restful Jirachi in her arms. Then she says to the rest of us, "To each of you."

"Don't worry about it," Mizuki replies while breathing fast, sprawled out on her back.

"Kyogre?" I glance to my right and notice her body is paler than ever. Her eyes are closed and her body is stiff but occasionally jerks weirdly. "Oh no, there's no water around."

"She'll be fine," assures Rayquaza as he lies on his back in midair. "Without water she'll hibernate. The Heartless coming here is what we have to worry about."

"And the oxygen in this underground hideout," adds Uxie.

"Oxygen is constantly being transported from the entrance to this place, that's the least of our problems," Don says matter-of-factly as he sits next to me, lowering Darkrai to the ground warily. "I hate all this dirt. Anyway, Risa bought us more than enough time." He turns to her, watching her rest atop Groudon's back. Mesprit and Cresselia had to keep her elevated and told her not to fall asleep, it's hard to tell if she did.

"Don look," Uxie brings our attention to the Professor's hideout. "Our time to rest is over." A large chunk of the lair from where Risa and the Heartless fought breaks off, crumbling in slow motion. As it crashes into the ground and explodes into rubble and debris, something is launched in the air. Me, Don, Mizuki, and the Pokémon who are awake scramble to their feet as the Heartless lands a couple feet in front of us. Some of us, including me, gasp when it reveals its face-a replica of my face. In fact, it's an colorless copy of my body plus a dozen insect-like arms sprouting from its back. "It really is Mia except…Dark," observes Mizuki, sitting up in a jolt. "Egglady was right."

"That's me?" I wonder in disbelief as the Heartless stretches its numerous arms to the dirt ceiling. A Dark burst of energy from the Heartless' body repels us back. Ironically, it pushes us to a good distance, about eight feet away from it. "Everyone survived that Dark Pulse?" Azelf asks the groaning Pokémon. Mizuki turns to the stunned Pokémon behind us, still shaky and kinda feeble from death. "Looks like we're picking up where Risa left off," she says to me while leaning on her knees to stand up.

"I can still fight." Risa stumbles to us with blue Keyblade in hand, her face covered and blood free. Her body betrays her words, she's breathing hard and is only standing by using her Keyblade as a cane. "You're up already?" I wonder. If it was me I'd be out for at least for an hour but Risa really is an incredible person.

"Risa you should be lying down. We'll take care of this," affirms Mizuki tentatively as she gazes at the Heartless. "Somehow."

"I am fine Mizuki and there is no time to argue about my wellbeing." Mizuki strokes her hair fervently and looks over her shoulder to the still-in-recovery Pokémon way in the back, frowning at them as if realizing she has no other choice but to rely on Risa. She is the only one who came close to destroying it and Mizuki and I know nothing about it except it looks exactly like a Heartless copy of myself. "We can't have the Pokémon fight, they're still weak from dying."

"Dying?"

"Yeah, everyone died but I brought them back to life." Risa hesitates for a couple of seconds as she processes that odd-sounding statement. It's hard to read her expression with her face covered but I think at this point in our lives, the three of us are inclined to believe _anything_ that sounds too unreal to be true, so she sighs heavily and straightens her back. "Okay," is Risa's reply. I nervously glance at the Heartless version of me ogling us, I'm surprised how closely it resembles me, my hairstyle, my height, the clothes I wore in captivity, the Professor really took a part of me and made it into this...thing. As I stare at it in stupefied awe, I listen to Risa speaking to Mizuki.

"Your close combat will deal enough damage to destroy the Heartless before we can use it. You will be more useful for fighting off the hands, you should hang back and guard the Pokémon if Don slips up."

"I won't," he replies stubbornly.

Risa continues, "Mia, Don, and I will weaken it enough to incapacitate it, understand?"

"Got it." Mizuki takes her hair out of her face and falls back to the Pokémon side. Risa gives Don instructions to distract the Heartless' arms until she and I are ready. For what, I'm not sure yet. "I think one strong blow should be enough to subdue it. Can you follow my lead Mia?" she asks me as I'm fixated on the Heartless. I thought my Darkness couldn't be corrupted, why does this Heartless exist? My doubts and fears, could that be the reason this hideous Heartless exists?

Risa has to pull me back to force me to break the Heartless' hungry stare. "Can you follow me?"

"Yeah."

"Go!" We split into opposite directions as we take off, curving into the Heartless from both sides. I preemptively strike the Heartless in its abdomen, sending it to Risa like a tennis ball. She knocks it back to me with a swift kick and with the staff coated in blood-orange Twilight, I brandish it brutally at the Heartless. The Heartless wails and when one of its arms lunges at me, I slam it out of the way and Don's ring crashes into it. "Mia, back up and join me," orders Risa while she pulls back. This Heartless is a part of me, it's my fault that all the Pokémon were taken from their worlds. "Mia, fall back." I swing at the Heartless wildly, grunting furiously with every brandish. How could I let the Professor do something so vile and inhumane to me without me knowing? What's that sound, it's so familiar but it's so distant.

How could she rob a piece of me then morph it into a reflection of my Darkness? That noise, it's getting louder the more I strike this Heartless. It sounded like a hum earlier, a soft, dull humming like when I hummed my mom's lullaby. Now it's sharper, shriller, angrier, it's making my throat hurt.

_"Jesus Christ, Mia get back!"_ Mizuki's brash comment makes me realize that I've been screaming at the top of lungs. Ducking to avoid the other hands Don's rings can't reach, I retreat and join Risa. "Just do what I do, come closer." She pants heavily as she starts spinning the Keyblade like a staff and the tip begins to shine weakly with white light. I repeat what she does and both of us spin our weapons faster and faster while Don keeps the Heartless at bay. The whirring of her Keyblade and my Twilight-enveloped staff grow louder the more rapidly we twirl them. Risa sounds totally drained and yet she's managed to pull herself together for the sake of everyone here. I have to do the same. "Done?" Don asks as his rings fly back to him, hurrying over to us.

The Heartless, frustrated and winded by the constant harassment, runs at us while its large, heavy arms make it move cumbersomely. "Right now." Risa and I release our weapons and they dance elegantly but fiercely toward the oncoming Heartless. Light and Twilight glisten together as one; the weapons meet the Heartless and they spin right through it, knocking it off its feet with a loud thud and a pained wail. They follow an upward path, separate in midair, and return their owners. "Good work Mia, that should have…worked," Risa drops to her knee and pants profusely. I bend down next to her just as the Heartless gets itself on one knee and lets out a dominating screech. "Shit, I thought that would be enough."

"We're not as feeble as you think!" I turn around and watch Groudon spring to her feet and stomp the ground, causing a slight tremor in her landing. A stone plinth juts out beneath the Heartless, sending it spinning in midair. Rayquaza flies over us and he's covered in an orange aura as he mercilessly pummels the airborne Heartless. "If you think you can take us again, you're mistaken," he shouts while kicking it back to the ground. One of the Heartless' arm recklessly flies towards us-I think it wants to hit the other Pokémon behind me but we're in the way; I raise my bo staff defensively in front of Risa. A see-through barrier opens up in front of us, stopping the hand from reaching us. "You two should stand back," Uxie suggest kindly with his hand raised at the square shield. "We're going to pick things up from here." I manage to pull Risa up and walk her slowly back toward Mizuki and others. Don remains outside the barrier, watching the Pokémon beat the Heartless with that smirk of his, that smirk he does when he's feeling confident.

"Don't scare me like that Mia." Mizuki jabs my arm weakly but sounds gravely serious. "You looked crazy out there."

"Sorry, I didn't realize."

Palkia and Dialga surround the beast as it lets out a weakened shriek. The crystal and shiny pearls on Dialga and Palkia glow in blue and pink power-their eyes shine crimson and orange as they glare at the creature. "Hey, try not killing it," reminds Mizuki passively as we watch in awe.

"Cover your ears," says Dialga cryptically. When we do, he releases a roar that creates a hot indigo beam that drives the Heartless into the soil. My bo staff trembles as if a ghost is trying to pull it out of my hand; Giratina calmly advances toward the Heartless and holds his hand out behind his back. The staff flies out of my hand and lands into his. "You are not properly using this. I will return it," he says as I gape at my thin, minuscule weapon in his huge hand. As the bo staff is covered in a deep violet and crimson glow, it expands in length and size, spinning rapidly when he releases it in front of him. He and the bo vanish into thin air then appear atop the Heartless and he pummels it deeper into the ground along with the staff as if it has a will of its own. It twirls harshly as it pushes into the Heartless' head then creates a surge of Darkness that blasts it straight up to the soil ceiling. As the quiet Heartless makes its descent Palkia cracks his fingers and then slashes the air in front of him. The Heartless is clawed by pink matter and then it lifelessly collapses on the ground. "That was intense," remarks Mizuki.

"We can't show mercy to anything that tries to hurt any of you," Palkia walks to Mizuki and his eyes are back to its normal crimson hue. Uxie eradicates his barrier, leaving the three of us vulnerable to whatever Heartless Me will do next. "When have we ever fought together like that?" Palkia asks with a shrug.

"Never," Dialga pats Mizuki's shoulder, smiling stiffly at Palkia. "That felt nice."

"Glad you're on our side," Don says as he looks at Giratina and Rayquaza, the latter holding his head as his sudden headache ails him. Risa gestures for me to let go and I let her sit on the ground, slumping forward while she catches her breath. "It's over now," adds Don while smirking at me.

"I need your help to do this. My power won't be enough," Palkia tells Mizuki as they approach the crater, Mizuki reluctantly dragging her feet along. "Haha! That thing can't move, you don't have to worry. We're going to reverse the outer-dimensional pathways of this Heartless."

"Wha?"

"That's as simple as he's going to get," says Uxie jokingly. Giratina frowns at the pit and backs away from it, throwing my bo staff back to me without taking his eyes off Heartless Me. I catch it and it reverts to its average size while losing its Dark glow. "What did you do to it?" I ask him.

"I mentioned that weapon was created with the same matter my world is made out of," he replies dully then changes the topic, "We have a problem."

"What's happening?" Uxie asks as he warily hurries to him.

"It's disappearing!" Mizuki shrieks as she and Palkia sprint toward the pit. Don and I join them and gasp at the Heartless fading into raven cube particles. "Stay back," Giratina warns us. Don immediately pushes me back as the Heartless disappears completely, leaving behind particles that coil in the air like a snake would and dive toward me. Don jumps in front of me defensively yet the particles rush into my stomach. I wrap my arms around the entry point as I grimace from the sudden frigidness. "Aaaagh-huh?"

"Are you okay?" Don faces me and grabs my shoulders. "How do you feel?"

"A little cold, but fine otherwise."

"What about the Heartless? What're we going to do?" Mizuki asks Palkia worriedly. The three siblings, Groudon, Rayquaza, and Dialga join Mizuki and Palkia, all of them exchanging solemn glances of woe and frustration. Darkrai hangs back like he usually does but is intently staring at me. Even though he's faraway, it feels as though his blue eyes are peering into my heart and disagreeing with what's in there. "There must be an alternative, right Palkia?" inquires Uxie.

"I don't know, we might..."

What did I do? What else could I have done to make this situation worse? "I'm sorry," I say aloud. I step back from everyone but Don comes after me to stop me from retreating back. "Of course it's not-"

"No, it is. I'm sorry everyone."

"Mia stop, it's not your-"

"I'm sorry."

"I'm really not in the goddamn mood to hear you self-deprecate yourself Mia," Mizuki snaps at me, irritably yelling as Palkia restrains her from advancing toward me. "I'm not in the fucking mood. Not right now." Taken aback by her outburst, I turn away and shut my eyes so that I don't cry. Self-deprecate myself? I asked Mesprit what those words meant, _It means you undervalue yourself. You have little or no self-value. _Is that what I'm doing?

"Mizuki-" Don starts pacing toward her but he comes to a halt.

"Sorry," I mutter as I hold my sides. "I'm sorry I did this." That Heartless wasn't a Dark copy, a separate entity of my power, that thing was me. Its yellow eyes burned into my eyes and I saw my pain, my hatred, my soul tainted with the blood of my parents.

"You had nothing to do with it," says Don in a sangfroid tone, squeezing my shoulder. Even he's getting tired with all the things I've done, tired my self-deprecation. He doesn't have to lie to me, I know he's tired of listening me too.

_"It's my fault.__"_ I shove his hand off me and step away from him. I bend over, gripping my sides as a forceful stomach cramp makes itself known to me. More people I couldn't save, more people I failed. The moment I came into existence I became a burden that drags people into despair and ruin, why else am I here? "Mia, calm down," Mesprit speaks in a feigned lenient tone while warily approaching me.

"It's my fault you're all trapped here," I shriek as I bend down, the pain from my cramp creeping up my chest.

"Mia, it's not your fault, calm down," persists Don. "The Professor did this to them, nobody else."

"I'm the reason you lost everything. Sorry," I snatch the sides of my hair and pull on them petulantly. My short hair is disgusting, I never liked it. Some days I wish I could rip it out from the root using only my fingers. It would hurt a lot but I deserve that pain, I know I do. The pangs pulse like a heart beating on top of my own and finally settles in my chest.

"What're you talking about?"

Everyone should hate me for what I've done. "Everyone should hate me for what I've done."

I disgust myself. Everyone is disgusted with me. "You're all disgusted with me."

A shadow slithers from beneath my feet and spreads its wings to everyone around me. Darkness surges from the ground, sending everyone tumbling away from me. Being alone is good for me. Everything I do always hurts somebody, everything I don't do always hurts somebody. The moment I came into existence I've learned to self-deprecate.

J.G.P.


	23. Why Carry the World's Burdens?

**Brace yourselves, it's the penultimate chapter of drama.**

Palkia catches me as we roll like tumbleweeds on the moist soil along with everyone else but Mia. He pulls me to my feet and gapes at Mia engulfed in flames of Dark aura, licking and crackling at the ceiling. What the hell happened to her in a matter of twenty seconds? Is she pissed off about what I said? I was getting stressed out and Mia's apologies were annoying, she didn't do anything, why apologize? She's always been like that, from the moment I met her she was quick to take the blame and to put herself under someone's shoe. "Mia, get a grip!" I holler while Palkia holds me back. "Lemme go, she's my friend."

"Your friend might not hear you," he replies gravely. "Look at her." Two giant arms covered in crimson-purple energy emerge from her back and swim into the ground, creeping to us. Just like in the nightmare, the nightmare I chose to ignore. "We have to get back!"

"But Mia..."

"She'll kill all of us Mizuki," Dialga pulls me back from the shadow permeating the ground. Rayquaza scoops up Risa and Kyogre while flying up to safety, Cresselia holding Jirachi follows behind him. Darkrai charges to the front and holds his hands out as if about to play the piano, Darkness dripping rapidly from his fingertips like raindrops. The swimming claws are bombarded by Darkrai's Darkness, convulsing as if Darkrai's Dark Pulse is a Light antidote for them. "Darkrai, her claws can plunge us to our death," Uxie runs up beside him and pulls him back. "We have to fall back."

"Her heart is swamped in Darkness," says Darkrai as he grimaces from the oncoming shadows looming to us. "This is all I can do."

"Everyone stay out of this," Don says while he heaves Darkrai back. Darkrai bumps into me and I rush him to the Pokémon crowd. "You warned me about this," I mutter. "I could've stopped this." I glance over my shoulder and watch the shadows twitch before they resume to swim toward us.

"You couldn't have," he says, his cloak dragging along the ground. "Didn't Dialga teach you that?"

_"Mizuki you're not going to like this, I can tell. You're young so you might not wholly understand but it is impossible to change events of the future. Time flows in one direction and it goes in that direction with an exception."_

_"What's the exception?"_

_"The preserver of time can create infinite futures."_

_"That's me!"_

_"Not exactly...rather not yet."_

It was a little disappointing to hear that I couldn't change the future. But soon I will, I'll be strong enough to stop this kind of stuff from happening. When I escort Darkrai to the group of Pokémon, I face Don, who looks like he's writhing in agony watching Mia trying to attack us. "We have to ensure the Pokémon's safety," I remind Don who looks ready to disagree in a moment.

"What about Mia's? Does she mean nothing to you?"

"She's my best friend. Just because I said that other stuff doesn't mean I-Don, I don't have time for this," I snap, turning away and raking my fingers through my scalp. "I need to think about what we're going to do next."

"There's no time to think, Mia's in trouble," he protests irately. "Don't you see that?"

"What is wrong with Mia?" Risa asks as she comes next to me, holding my shoulder as she catches her breath. Neither Don nor me can answer her, our best friend has never been so distant from us before. Risa jumps in front of me and blocks the oncoming Heartless arm that emerges from the ground with her Keyblade, stepping forward along with Don. "Mia, speak to me. What is wrong?" she asks.

"Clancy died and…it's my fault. I failed to save Seth too," Mia answers, gazing up as if she hears the two boys condemning her from above. Two raven-stained tears trickle down her face. "I lost him and Clancy to the Darkness." The second arm juts out over Risa and something-either stupidity or instinct-tells me to stay in place. Everyone calls my name while I stretch my arms out and a transparent, white wall forms in front of me and protects me from the black hand. Are the Pokémon safe? I turn around and they're boxed in the spatial wall along with me, keeping Mia, Risa, and Don outside the safe zone. "Guys, talk some sense into her," I shout as my arms start to tingle.

"Mia, please get a hold of your senses. You did not cause Clancy's death," Risa shakes off the Heartless hand then slices it off. Its stem returns to Mia's Darkness-radiating body but the large shadow travels to my barrier. I tighten my fists as Dark saucers attempt to break through the transparent barrier, disintegrating into flames then nothing. "You're amazing Mizuki!" Mesprit cheers from behind. Mia covers her eyes and shakes her head as if trying to shake Heartless Mia out of there. "Please Mia, I do not want to hurt you," continues Risa worriedly.

"I caused you to hurt your friends. I couldn't stop Seth no matter how hard I tried," she cries out tearfully and more Darkness spews from her. "I've brought nothing but suffering to you." The saucers increase in production and I feel my energy being chipped away from each blow to the shield. I start to pant as I close my fists and pour more energy into the spatial barrier.

"Mia stop!" Don charges into the field, Dark saucers graze him miraculously. Another arm sprouts, cracking alive like a bone, from her back which causes her to scream in agony. "I'm not letting that Heartless take your heart." She steps back and shakes her head while tears and sweat pour down her face like waterfalls. "I've brought suffering to you," repeats Mia shakily. "You hate me for reminding you of Angelica."

"What the-? No, Mia-!"

"You hurt me because I make your heart writhe with pain from the past. Darkness deserves to devour me since all I do is hurt you." It must be that Heartless version of herself that's making her think these weird things. "Loneliness will be my reward_._" Her body contorts oddly as four more arms emerge from her back and the barrier is pelted with double the amount of saucers. I drop to one knee, struggling to support the shield as Darkness grinds through it.

"Mizuki hang on, I'm coming to help you out," Palkia offers his hand to help but something stops him. "What?"

"Your energy mixing with hers will make you an easy target for the Heartless," protests Uxie concernedly. "It'll latch onto your spatial energy and pull you and Mizuki to it. Remember that Heartless won't stop hunting us even with Mizuki and the others here."

"Let me out of your barrier," says Giratina aloofly. I turn my attention back to Don who got a lot closer to Mia than Risa has, she's too busy fending off the hands emerging from the ground. "I don't like repeating myself."

"Nothing comes in and nothing's coming out," I defiantly yell, then whisper to myself, "Please Don, reach her before this gets worse."

"Mia, listen to me, I hurt you in the past because I was scared," he says, taking her shoulders. With a blank face, she stares at his sneakers. I begin to notice something black swimming in her eyes. "You didn't do anything, it was all me. Listen to me Mia." As Don gently shakes Mia, her soulless eyes trail to my direction, her sclera slowly being permeated by jet black ink.

"I don't...no. I was born to suffer," she replies while she leans out of his grasp. Her dirt-smudged hands tremble, worsening when she stands up and strolls into the shadow-covered field and stopping the assault on the shield. The arms on her back make her really slow so Risa has a chance to go up to her and stop her. "Mia, what Don says is true," insists Risa. "He would not lie to you."

"Darkness can have someone who brings pain to others." She bypasses Risa and the Heartless arms' slowly extend to my barrier. They freeze when Risa kicks Mia in the back of her head and has her fall over. Don calls out for Mia again while he races to where they are. "I will not hurt you anymore than that."

"Why?" Her green eyes look as creepy as Heartless' eyes with black sclera.

"You are important to me Mia. You know that already."

"Important as Clancy?"

"Yes." Risa sighs sadly.

"I killed him."

"No you did not. His Darkness did."

"Darkness I couldn't protect Seth from," she mutters with a cracking voice. "Darkness that took away the only friend I had. Risa, please kill-"

_"No!"_ Risa and Don shout at the same time. As Mia starts crying miserably, the Heartless hands swipe both Risa and Don away from her. Mia stands herself up and takes awkward steps toward me. "You all suffer because I exist. The Heartless…was made from me, that's why you're here."

"Jeez Mia, stop it already," I protest angrily.

"You hate me, everyone hates me."

"Nobody hates you-hey don't touch it!" I warn as she taps the wall. Darkness permeates it and I cry out as the Darkness electrocutes my insides.

"Please snap out of it," begs Mesprit. Mia covers her mouth and gasps as if she realizes what she's doing. For a second she looks like the Mia who enjoys eating croissants at that cafe we get breakfast at sometimes and the Mia who always tells me to be nicer to Don. Then self-deprecating Mia takes over again, causing her to sob loudly.

"Mia, find the light, please," says Cresselia as she puts her hand against the weakening spatial wall. "Don't lose yourself." The pain comes to a stop as Mia pulls her hand back and squints at Cresselia. "Mom?"

"No Mia, I'm your friend, remember?"

_"What?"_ Mia shakes her head, rejecting Cresselia's response. "Mom, I messed up. I'm sorry."

"I'm not your mother, Mia," persists Cresselia firmly. Mia gives us her back and holds her head as if it's going to explode.

The Darkness from Mia's Heartless growing arms is dissolving the barrier to my horror. It can't break, it won't break no matter what wears it down! Letting out a fierce groan, I squeeze my fists and reinforce the barrier with a mixture of turquoise and white Light energy, dispelling the Darkness completely. "Keep it up Mizuki," cheers Palkia and Dialga. This situation is hopeless, none of us are getting anywhere. I turn behind me to check on the terrified Pokémon holding their breaths while waiting for Mia's next move. Someone will get through to her, I have to believe that.

"You're not my mom. My mom died…I wasn't strong enough to save her. Korbin killed her and my dad…and I watched."

"Mia," I mutter downheartedly as I watch her Heartless arms crackle. What can I say to that, to any of whatever she's saying? I've known her for a long time and we've been friends for a couple of months and it's like I don't know anything about her. I'm supposed to know this stuff, damn it.

"It was my fault. I couldn't protect them. I let them die and for what? So that I could bring suffering to others?" she talks to herself as she paces back and forth. "I'll never hear their voices, I'll never see my mom's smile. I won't hear my dad calling for me because I watched him die." She falls to the ground as Risa and Don cautiously tread in her direction. But at this point, we're too horror struck to console or urge her otherwise. "I lost everything, my home, my friend, my family...because I let my parents die."

Mesprit comes from behind, finally someone other than Mia speaks, "She really believes this. The Heartless is feeding off her weakening heart and if Mia continues, it will take over her."

"How am I supposed to-nngh!" I brace for impact as all of her Heartless arms beat against the reinforced barrier. "Supposed to-change the way she feels?"

"I need to talk to her," Giratina bellows as he knocks on the shield. Mia's constant shrieks fuel the hands' assault on the barrier, "I let them die! I'm sorry, please don't hate me! I'm the reason why you're dead."

"If I bring it down none of us are safe," I argue as I huff. "You think you can save her before she can destroy all of us? No offense but I don't think you two see eye to eye."

"I don't like repeating myself."

"I really don't wanna trust you. But fine!" I drop my arms and the barrier shatters into sparkling fragments. Then I fall face-flat in the dirt and stay down. "Mizuki, are you okay?" Uxie stands above me while I hear others swarm around me. "You did so much to protect us."

"I just need to lay down for a little bit," I lift my head so I can see what Giratina does. He calmly strides toward the frantic, unstable Mia and stands over her as she grips the back of her head and rocks back and forth. If anyone was going to have a meltdown at the end of the night, I thought it would have been me. "The Darkness will devour you soon."

"Darkness," Mia repeats calmly, scrutinizing her palm as her tears splatter on it. She hugs her knees and puts her head down. "I killed my parents."

"There are people who worry about your wellbeing like you do for mine." He looms over her, his normal apathetic visage slowly breaking as Mia's sobs ring in our ears. Risa and Don stop and watch Mia's Heartless arm whack Giratina. He manages to catch it and bring it to his chest like holding a rabid dog. "You can hear me."

"Help me, Mom. I'm sorry I killed you," Mia cries to the ceiling, digging her nails into the dirt.

"Mia." She looks at Giratina wide-eyed, another Heartless hand tries to pick up the muscular dude but he has literally grounded himself in the dirt. "You once told me you would give up everything for your friends. Yet you're giving up your heart for the Heartless."

"Friends? What...friends...?" she mutters in confusion. "I'm alone."

"You're not," protests Don avidly. "We're here with you."

"No, _I'm alone!_"

"Why hold onto the Darkness?" Giratina asks in a strained tone, Mia putting more pressure on him. Her tainted eyes gaze at her hands as if they have the answer.

"Because it's warm like Dad. This pain gets rid of the loneliness."

"Mia, look at your friends, the people you said you would protect with everything you had."

"Friends, my friends?" Mia hugs herself and snivels.

"You dedicate your wellbeing to them," says Giratina as his feet dig into the dirt, the hand beginning to push him back. It's weird hearing that guy talk so nicely, I'm used to him saying mean stuff and being cold toward everyone. "Your friends give you the strength to fight, you told me that. Their joy and sadness become yours and you fight to bring tranquility to their lives, that is what you said." Mia suddenly groans, as if hearing Giratina speak is like scratching a chalkboard.

"It's working," whispers Mesprit optimistically. When Mia shakes her head again, I catch a glimpse of the black draining from her sclera and heave a sigh.

"Mia's not a Heartless!" Jirachi says, fully awake and on his feet, talking to Uxie, "She's my best friend."

"I'm-_what_?" Mia stops moving and lets her normal arms hang limply. "Joy? Tranquility-?"

"Mia!" I sputter, finally knowing what to say to her. "We trust you with our lives, you don't make us suffer. You're like a sister to me, don't hurt yourself because you think you deserve pain. You don't have to carry our burdens-_the world's burdens, _you always do." I sit up and yell at her, "You deserve to be happy like everyone else." Immediately, Mia bends over and the Heartless arms convulse violently. Giratina releases an arm and the other one backs off him completely. All at once, they withdraw inside Mia and the shadow that covered the soil retracts back to her ordinary shadow. Her eyes roll back and she drops to the ground lifelessly; Don and Giratina join her side, the latter holding her up. "Mia, I didn't know you felt that way," Don mutters to himself somberly.

"Thanks," whispers Mia feebly to both of them, I assume. As her head hangs back and she closes her eyes, the Dark particles that the Heartless disintegrated into leave Mia's chest and reform into Dark Mia, her surplus arms smaller than before. "I'll end this now," Don resolves, stroking Mia's bangs and then rejoining Risa who's holding herself up with the Keyblade. "This persistent bug is gonna get it, right?" he holds his hand out as if they're about to arm wrestle.

"Yes." They grip each other's hands briefly and face the Heartless who weakly roars at them. Don's rings hover off his arms and pelt the Heartless' numerous hands so that it stumbles back from the weight. Risa hurls her spinning Keyblade at Heartless Mia and brings it tumbling to the ground; she quickly lunges toward it as golden rings fly next to her for back up. Risa jumps to avoid the oncoming hand and then grabs it to bring the Heartless to her. Don's endless supply of rings bothers the other hands so that Risa doesn't have to deal with them while she shoots small, chubby orbs of Light from the Keyblade. Heartless Mia wails in agony as Risa yanks it back to herself again and beats the yellow-eyed monster senselessly with the Keyblade, the free rings Don has floating around swoop down to aid her. "You got it Risa!" Groudon yells triumphantly.

"Come on Risa," Rayquaza cheers as he holds a comatose Kyogre in his arms. Risa stomps her foot and sends the Heartless into the air for an aerial assault. "You can do it, Keyblade Warrior!" Palkia hollers, nearly deafening me.

"Your willpower won't waver as long you know what you're fighting for," Azelf adds ecstatically.

"Kick its ass so they can all get home," I sit on my knees and weakly cheer with the others.

"This will end it," Risa kicks the Heartless into the dirt and plunges the Keyblade into its lower abdomen. By thrusting her hands into the soil, vines ensnare each arm while Don's rings beat the hands until they fold up together then two stone arches pin Dark Mia's normal arms and legs to the ground. "You two are amaze-Risa!"

She faints from exhaustion right next to the trapped Heartless. The Keyblade vanishes into Light in response to its comatose master. Rayquaza flies over to her and kneels next to her while someone slaps my shoulder. "Wha?"

"We have to do this now," says Palkia urgently.

"Now or never," I mutter, nodding in agreement. I stand up and jog with him toward the Heartless. Don comes over to see what we're going to do; Palkia instructs me to plunge my hands inside the Heartless and to concentrate on reversing its spatial flow. I swallow hard and stroke my hair stressfully before digging my hands in Dark Mia's swollen abdomen. "Reverse the flow with me," he commands as the Heartless turns a brighter shade of red.

"Oh-kay!" In two minutes, the Heartless' body is completely fuchsia with traces of turquoise slithering in the direction of its face. I've managed to not throw up but it's only a matter of five more minutes of having my hands trapped inside a gross Heartless. "We've done it but now we have to position the hands that brought us here," says Palkia. Once all the available Pokémon get the hands in position, Palkia urges we continue for another minute to channel the spatial energy into the arms.

"We can't wait until they wake up?" Rayquaza wonders as he watches Risa with concern. Giratina is still cradling Mia, as if her slumber is interesting to him. "The Heartless will die before then," says Uxie dejectedly. "I would prefer we wait too, but it has to be done now." Each of the hands open up and dive into the ground to create pink swirling pools like the ones the Pokémon sank into at the hotel. "This might be it."

"How do we know you'll make it back?" I ask as I pull my hands out and clap off any invisible goo. "This might be bye forever."

"Not forever," Dialga throws his arm around my shoulders. "We'll see each other soon."

"I wanna say goodbye to Mia," cries Jirachi as Cresselia pulls him along to their pools. "She didn't make a wish yet."

"You're stronger than you think you know," Palkia rubs my head endearingly. "Thanks for everything you've done. And those other two as well." Rayquaza and Groudon thank me and Don politely as they head for the pools. The three siblings hug me all around and say thanks to Don formally. Mesprit adds something funny, "You should share how you really feel with Mia despite how guilty you feel."

"What do I have to feel guilty about?" he asks nonchalantly.

"I know you feel as though you shouldn't like Mia because she's treated you nicely despite the bad stuff you've done to her." Her confident answer makes Don tense up with anxiety. "Trust me, she knows you're sorry and feels the same way about you."

"Okay, you know people don't like being told how they really feel, time to go," I push her toward one of the unoccupied pools. "That's why I make jokes about it." I turn to Giratina who quietly says his thanks to Don and me and steps into its pool, leaving Mia resting on the ground. When the other Pokémon get into the pools they are sucked in ravenously but are calm about it. "I hope this works, I hope we'll meet again," I say with a cracking voice. "Mia and Risa will wait too!"

"Thank you for fulfilling your promise to us," Dialga says warmly as the rest of them, except Kyogre who's out cold and Giratina who's back to being stone-faced, wave at me as they descend into the ground. Once they're gone, I satisfactorily smile at Don who is baffled at my happy expression. "What?"

"I knew you liked Mia!" Teasing him will put me out of this shitty mood and stop me from crying for sure. "Shut up," he steps away from me.

"She's your one true love waiting at the other end of your red string of fate," I joke, further irritating him. He folds his arms and taps his foot impatiently, his face beet red. "But seriously, what do we do with this?" I kick the Heartless' rib area.

"If we destroy it now it might disrupt the process. Just wait until the hands resurface," he takes a seat next to Mia and heavily sighs as he gazes at the ceiling. I sit next to Risa and stare at Mia as I say, "I feel like shitty friend."

"Tch, why?"

"I don't know if you heard Mesprit but she said all that stuff Mia said was how she really felt. I just think that's sad." He nods with a glum expression. "Oh wait a minute," I get to my feet excitedly. "You were with Darkrai the whole six days. How was that?"

"It's none of your business," retorts Don.

"Tell meeee. Come on, we've got time to kill." I plop next to him as he uncomfortably shuffles away. "I'm not spending it moping around. You're acting like a baby."

He grumbles to himself and then proceeds to reluctantly tell me, "There's not much to say. He was surprised that I wasn't affected by his ability and was grateful for it since he didn't really like his powers. I told him I didn't really like mine and other irrelevant things...he told me I shouldn't be afraid of Mia's possible rejection-"

"Pfft," I snort then laugh heartily. "I'm sorry go on, Mia rejecting you is hilarious."

"We're done," he gets up, walks over to the Heartless, spots the resurfaced, empty hands, and stomps on its chest until it splatters into Dark particles and disappears completely. "I'll take Mia and you take Risa back to Angel Island."

"Not surprising. Knuckles would kill you if you brought Risa back unconscious again." He chuckles faintly as I go over to Risa and slump her over my shoulders. I never knew I could make that broody dude crack a smile, let alone laugh.

J.G.P.


	24. Zephyr

Heartless Mia, the Pokémon, Don, Mizuki, Mia. What happened to them?

A breeze caresses my face while I awaken to a starlit sky. I sit up and wince while my sore body wakes up as well. "This is Angel Island," I whisper softly while I bend my knees and survey the lush field. The hill of grapes has been reduced to less than half since the last time I saw it, that makes me wonder where Knuckles is-what about everyone else? Against my body's will I scramble to my feet and head up the steps to get a full vista of the floating island. "Rayquaza? Azelf? Where are you?" I yell.

"Aah, wha?" I turn to Knuckles who I just startled awake. "I thought you would still be sleeping."

"Where is everybody? What happened?"

"Slow down and use your inside voice like you always tell me to do. Sheesh."

"What happened to everyone?"

"Mizuki came over here with you and said you were out cold. She told me she got the Pokémon home and that you were taking a breather 'cuz you worked really hard to save everyone," explains Knuckles groggily. "She said you probably wouldn't be up until tomorrow morning."

"So they are all gone?" I face island view again and gaze at the empty sky hopefully.

"Yeah," replies Knuckles with some longing in his tone. "I liked that lady."

"The one you ate the grapes with?"

"Yeah she was cool."

"She was."

"Well I'm going back to sleep, don't wake me up again."

"I will not," I mumble sadly as I descend the steps. Part of me is waiting to get picked up by Rayquaza but my hope shrivels up like a dead willow tree when I head toward the edge of the island and find nothing but the ocean down there, no white-haired woman leaping out of the water. I should be ecstatic that they returned home but I am not. A raindrop plops on my hood and another falls on my balled up fists. "Be happy," I tell myself as I close my eyes tight and lie down by the altar. I suddenly push myself up and sprint toward the other end of the island, looking desperately for any sign of the child with the strange haircut who told me to accept my tattoo as a blessing in disguise. When I reach the ruins, I frantically toss stones and broken pedestals in an attempt to find the muscular woman with the dark marks on her skin who taught me how to fly with a rock. "What are you doing?" I wonder aloud as the drizzle comes down gently. "There is nobody here anymore."

I return to the altar steps and lie down on the soaked floor while staring at the clouds shielding the countless stars. Turning on my side, I close my eyes with a depressed sigh-tomorrow morning I will wake up glad that they have returned to their worlds. I saved them from the Heartless and fulfilled my promise to keep them safe, there is nothing…to be upset about. "There_ is_ nothing to be upset about. You're right Risa," Azelf's voice haunts my mind. "I'm not haunting you, open your eyes."

My eyes open wide and I find myself in a seashell white void. "Where am I?" I gaze behind me and above me while I begin to sit up.

"Need a hand?" Mizuki appears next to me and holds her hand out. I let her help me up and then I realize there are others here too, people I recognize. "How long does it take make a intergalactic psychic connection with us?" she asks them. I face the people standing to the right of us and smile.

"You were easy," Jirachi boasts with a toothy grin then points at me with his baggy sleeve. "She was hard!"

"Because Risa and Mia's mental energy were depleted from their fight. It was harder to connect to them," informs Uxie while smirking at me. "How do you feel?"

"I am very confused." Azelf giggles cutely as he folds his arms. "What is going on here?"

"I got this Brainiac," assures Mizuki while turning me away from them. "They told me everything, the psychic ones who can do this, like Jirachi, the triplets, and Cresselia used Palkia's spatial powers to connect with each of us and brought us to this realm where our mental powers are at its pinnacle, which is when we're all asleep. Basically we're all having the same dream."

"Why?"

"They wanna tell us something important," says Mizuki, sounding slightly concerned. "But not until Mia gets here."

"Thank you for taking care of me." I embrace Mizuki for a little while.

"Poor thing, she's still recovering from the trauma," says Mesprit as she exchanges a grim glance with Cresselia. "I knew something like that was going to happen one way or another."

"Are you talking about Mia?" I ask as we pull out of the hug.

"How is she?" Giratina asks us. I shrug while Mizuki frowns down at the transparent, wavy surface we are standing on. Kyogre eagerly waits for one of our responses.

"I'm not sure. Don took her home." He looks away with an uninterested expression. "Mesprit, did Mia always feel that way?"

"For a very long time, yes. You shouldn't feel bad, her caring nature is why that happened to her," Mesprit explains. "She feels very lonely and being around her friends makes her happy. She loves being around you two so much that she's willing to sacrifice her happiness to have her friends with her. _The lonely one offers his hand too quickly to whomever he encounters." _

Mizuki and I exchange solemn glances. "Humans have it rough, huh?" Groudon asks everyone. Suddenly materializing in front of me, Mia is curled in a fetal position looking rather uncomfortable. She moans softly and her eyes flutter open, not yet processing who we are. "Hello there!" Mizuki says sing-song.

"Um...Mizuki?" she mutters while pushing herself up and grimacing. "Mizuki, Risa, what're you doing here?"

"How do you feel Mia?" Cresselia asks with a worried expression. Kyogre's eyes light up seeing a Heartless-free Mia. Scratching her chest, she turns and gasps at the Pokémon, getting on her feet and stumbling backward to us. She nods without an utterance. "That's good."

"Am I-am I in a dream?"

"Not exactly," answers Palkia, crossing his arms. Mia pauses, contemplating things in a baffled silence as Mizuki and I join her sides. When she sighs and rubs her temple she says, "I'm sorry I hurt all of you-"

Mizuki grabs her and locks her in a bear hug. After hearing Mia trying to stammer something, I think about what she said about Clancy then I join in. "Friends gotta look out for each other right?" Mizuki asks. _"We need each other."_

"I'm trying to apologize-"

"I need my best friends with me, otherwise I'm useless, got it?"

"O-Okay."

"You get it Risa?"

"Yes."

"I'm glad you're back to normal Mia," remarks Mesprit joyfully. As we separate, Mia smiles weakly and then frowns as guilt fills up her eyes. Mizuki sighs sadly as she releases Mia's hands and then ecstatically yells, "So what's up? What do you wanna tell us? The suspense is killing me."

"We made it back to our dimensions without a scratch!" Palkia replies with a grin. "You three kept your vow, I'm-" Mizuki charges to him and hugs him tightly while clinging to him like a monkey. "I kept thinking I screwed up-I'm so relieved you guys are okay!" She happily dangles off him.

"When Mizuki makes a promise she keeps it," Dialga comments as she pulls him into the group hug to his embarrassment. I walk up to Rayquaza who smirks and remarks, "You fought like a dragon out there. Not like the ones in your stories."

"Thank y-oof!" Groudon and Azelf tackle me from both sides and have me pinned between them.

"No matter how many times I saw you fall, you got back up and fought twice as hard for us," Azelf reminds me as he holds on to me. "I've never met anyone with willpower like yours Risa. Don't ever forget it."

"The one you couldn't save," says Rayquaza amiably while he squeezes my shoulder. "They would be honored to know you and your friends saved us. You kept your promise, there is no reason to be sad."

"You're one strong kid too," Groudon lifts me from everyone with a bone-crushing hug.

"Thanks," I mutter under heavy strain. At this height I see Mesprit, Cresselia, Jirachi and Giratina surrounding Mia while she refrains herself from touching them. "What's the matter?" Cresselia strokes Mia's hair back tenderly. "The Light has returned to you and has balanced you out."

"I'm so sorry for everything I did to you guys." She rubs her temple persistently. "I said awful things."

"We forgive you silly." Mesprit gives her a quick hug.

"I don't think I deserve your forgiveness for everything I've done," protests Mia as she takes Cresselia's hand off her.

"You deserve more than you were given," Giratina says, slapping a firm hand on her shoulder. "You will always deserve better because you're...Mia."

"Thanks."

"The world is cruel and lonely, isn't it?"

"Yes."

"Having others care about your wellbeing makes it better."

She lowers her head and a tear rolls down her chin. "Y-yeah."

"Don't be sad Mia," Jirachi hugs her waist, standing on his tippy toes. _"Be happy."_ The words shock her, causing more teardrops to fall from her eyes.

"I'm not," she replies, clearing her throat and squeezing Jirachi and Mesprit. "You're all my friends so I'm not sad." After reluctantly hanging around Mia's group, Kyogre hugs Mia's head and buries it in her chest. "I'm going to miss you a lot," the white-haired Pokémon mutters with melancholy.

"All of us are connected by our hearts and dreams," Cresselia says as she plants a kiss on Mia's forehead. "Darkrai, isn't there something you wanted to say to her?"

"I'll never forget you Risa, you really are someone special," Azelf seizes my attention and after a few more minutes of hugging and small talk, he gets everyone to listen to him. "You all are, you took us under your care and risked your lives for us. You all have strong willpowers and I know that you genuinely care about us. It's safe to say that we are forever grateful to you all."

"You'll always be in our hearts," says Mesprit, taking Mia's hand and pulling her away from the others, then me and finally Mizuki. "So please keep us in yours."

"You three are still young and are learning how to grow each day. I don't doubt that you'll find a way to get back home," Uxie steps back from Mizuki and stands beside his siblings. "I only wish we could stay with you all longer, I was really trying to find a way to get you three home. I'm sorry we couldn't do that for you."

"Don't worry about it," Mizuki grins and gives them a thumbs up. "We'll figure it out soon."

"Mia," Darkrai's voice is barely audible as he keeps himself away from the other Pokémon. "Remember what I said to you and again, thank Don for me."

"I will, don't worry about it." Mia chuckles nervously when she notices Mesprit grinning at her fondly. "What is it?"

"I don't say this to embarrass you Mia but you and Don have a special bond that can never be broken. _Selfless love _it's called, a special kind of love that is impervious to the forces of Light and Darkness and time and space-it's rare," Mesprit swoons and blushes thinking about it. "You'll understand it better when you're older." Mizuki goes over to Mia, the latter bracing for the brutal teasing. "I told you to accept your fate. Let's pick up the wedding cake tomorrow."

"It's not-please-never mind," stammers Mia as she laughs with Mizuki.

"Get over here Risa and join the group hug." I stroll toward them and put my arm over Mizuki's. "No matter happens we're gonna stick together."

"Yeah."

"We've gotta look out for each other _always_. We're on the same boat so we'll always have each other's backs alright?" Mizuki clenches us so hard we might join together as one person. Mesprit and the others exchange approving and pleasant countenances with one another. "Mizuki is right about that, your powerful bonds of friendship are what support each of you. Never lose sight of them," urges Mesprit like a teacher.

"We don't have that much time left, but I want to thank you all again. I never would've thought becoming human would be good, but it was. Humans are stronger than us," says Rayquaza. "I've learned they have more burdens to bear than any of us."

"And we're girls, life doesn't get any harder than that," jokes Mizuki with a chuckle. "When I get stronger, I'll bring all of us to your world," assures Mizuki, her eyes becoming glassy and her voice cracking. "Thanks for everything." They all start to fade and blend in with the void. The nature trio all grin at me-Kyogre jumping up and down as she waves to Mia-while the time-space trio wave at Mia and Mizuki, Cresselia and Darkrai say their goodbyes to Mia.

"Palkia might forget, but I promise to hold you in my memories until my last breath Mizuki," reassures Dialga.

"I can't forget Mizuki either!" objects Palkia, grinning at Mizuki. "She's like our sister,"

"I will remember your voice when I have time to sleep," Giratina says to Mia in an unusual, compassionate tone.

"Tell me how you figured out how to get home Mizuki," Uxie requests enthusiastically.

"Your promises make you strong. As long you don't forget them your resolves will always be firm," Azelf advises me as he and the others become more ghostly.

"The next time I see you Don better be holding your hand, Mia."

"Don't let yourself get held back by anything Risa, not by greed or selfishness. You can be as free as the wind," are Rayquaza's last words to me before I am torn away from the sweet sight of all of them. When I sit up, I am back on Angel Island with Knuckles and half a mountain of grapes. A lump forms in my throat as the rain pours down hard on me and the rest of Westopolis. But it is not sadness that aches my heart, it is joy from keeping my vow. This joy feels bittersweet but I have nothing to feel upset about because the Pokémon of the vast skies who flew higher than all of us told me that I can be the wind.

J.G.P.

**Stay tuned for a romantic epilogue coming up!**

**_"The lonely one offers his hand too quickly to whomever he encounters." ― Friedrich Nietzsche_**


	25. Epilogue, Our Beautiful Happiness

I rub my temple as the mental knot tightens in my head. Ever since I woke up, this headache has been nagging me. The knot stretches into a halo when I remember my discussion with Darkrai.

_"Don's immortality prevents him from sleeping and therefore the others cannot reach him. His fear of tormenting you kept him from telling you this, but his heart is clouded in Darkness," said Darkrai._

"_What?"_

"_His grief over the girl of his past has kept him away from the Light, from you. I wanted to help by having him face his fears and regrets in a nightmare but that isn't possible. Can I trust you to put an end to his grief?"_

"_Of-of course!" I readily obliged. "You two must've gotten close." _

_"Out of the countless number of humans in my world, there is finally one here who can be around me," said Darkrai despondently. "I want to look out for him." I started to smile then Kyogre scooped me up and spun me around. "I'll miss you being in my bathtub," I stammer as the spinning slowed down. That made my headache worse though._

"_That's why nobody should hate you."_

"_Huh?"_

"_You helped me even though you had no idea who I really was. You're a compassionate human who only helps others," said Kyogre tearfully as she put me down and stepped away from me. _

"_Thank you for saying that. And Darkrai I will help him, I promise." _Why am I the only one still in this empty space? From the colorless horizon, a little figure clumsily races to me and as it grows nearer, I recognize the little boy. "Jirachi," I say with a grin. He runs up to me and I bend down to hug him. "What's going on? Why am I still here?"

"I love you Mia, I don't want you to go…but Cresselia said I had to start acting like a grown up," says Jirachi sternly in his baby, immature voice. "By protecting me and getting me home, you saved the power of wishes, one of the sources of Light. And you still haven't made a wish."

"You're still on that?" I chuckle as I tussle his wild hair that's nearly identical to a lion's mane.

"Just one wish from you and I can go back to sleep. And I'm strong enough to grant almost any wish right now," he adds delightedly.

"Is that why I'm still here?"

"Uh-huh. I'm starting to get really sleepy so can you make a wish already? Anything you want-you can even wish for everything to be undone!"

"What do you mean?"

"I mean you can wish for your world to be saved by the Darkness, you can even help out your other friends. It'll take a long time but just name the wish and I'll grant it. So, what's your wish Mia?" I stand up, thinking hard about it. When I finish thinking, I get on my knees and tell him what it is, causing him to raise his eyebrows. "Are you sure? It's your only wish."

"I'm sure. I don't need a wish to save my world Jirachi, that's something I have to do on my own." He nods, the last wish tag on the back of his shirt glowing brightly as his eyes close. "Will you go to sleep now?"

"Yeah." He frowns suddenly, disturbing me. "When I wake up, will you still wanna play with me? I'll look different."

"We'll play tag, hide and seek and I'll even teach you how to play new games." Every promise makes his grin grow wider. "I love you too Jirachi."

"Good night Mia." He begins to hover over me in his green aura, like when Mizuki wished for the Pokémon to come back to life. Abruptly, I wake up on my couch in the lonely house.

* * *

As I gaze up at the cloudy skies, the rain splatters against my face. The bad weather means nothing-helping Mia and seeing her happy has me feeling like I could jump down these cliffs and fly into the sky like that Pokémon in green. I lay down on the rocky terrain, letting my skin soak up the cold raindrops. Teal light appears next to me and it isn't until I sit up I realize my body is cloaked in it. A bright light glares at me and forces me to shield myself. "What's going on?" I no longer feel the cool raindrops; putting my hand down and getting to my feet, I scrutinize the room with the sky blue walls and floor carefully until a voice calls to me, "Don, behind you." A voice I haven't heard in so long, a voice that I woke up to once before, a voice I'm not supposed to hear. I face the source of the voice, seeing a small lavender table and two chairs, one of them occupied by her. "Hello there."

"Angelica?" I mutter in confusion as I rub my eyes and slap my cheek. She stands up from the little table and approaches me as I retreat from her cautiously. "You're not real, what is this?"

"This is real Don. It's hard to believe but I'm really here and you're really here," she urges while stepping toward me. "We're finally together after all this time but only for a little while. Don't be afraid of me, I've wanted to do this for a long time."

"I'm going to wake up feeling nothing-"

She brings me in for a hug, not the "wake-up-from-the-dream hug", the actual one. I know now that everything is real, our feelings, her long braids, her warm, slender body on mine. For once it's not a dream that I'm about to wake up from. "I'm so happy to see you, I've watched you for a long time and now I finally get to speak with you." She gently pulls me to the table and gets me to sit down across from her. "What's the matter? You don't look happy to see me, I thought you would be. Summer Carnivale began a few days ago and there's a new attraction that opened up. I wish we could go."

"Angelica…you shouldn't forgive me. I'm the reason..." I grab my hair as the rest of the sentence struggles to come out, "I'm the reason you're no longer left in this world. I'm scum Angelica, I said I would keep you safe but I ended up taking your life-I deserve nothing but your hatred." Her soft hands touch my fist, I take my hand out of my hair and Angelica gently forces it open. "I can't hate you for what you did. I would've gotten so many people sick and I wouldn't have been able to live with myself," says Angelica remorsefully, her lively deep umber eyes dull with melancholy. "I would've done it myself eventually."

"Angelica." I take her hands, unable to utter another word with her tender but unwavering gaze on me. She halfheartedly smiles while shaking her head disappointedly.

"Can I tell you what I was going to say before you shot me?"

"Yes…"

"Don, there's something I have to say to you. Before you do what you must, please don't hate yourself for it. The last thing I want to see is you living in self-loathing. When you remember me, don't remember this part, remember the trip to Summer Carnivale and…remember the beautiful skies we stared at together as we wished to leave the Air Fortress someday." She chokes back a sob, chuckling to cover it up. "Remember when I forced you to eat funnel cake and remember every happy moment we shared. Please, will you do that for me?"

It feels like my mouth is filled with ash and my stomach is lodged in my throat. A tear, something I haven't felt in a long time, rolls off my face and drips onto Angelica's hand. I want to throw myself out of this room but Angelica's tightening grip on my hands brings me back to her exquisite, dark eyes that I find myself drowning in. Tears are rolling down her angelic face as she grips my hands. I nod at her and she shakes her head excitedly. "No, I want to hear you say that you will." After swallowing hard and clasping her hands, I sigh sadly.

"I will do that." She smiles, getting up from the table and as I rise, we hold each other. I never wanted anything more than to hear her last words, my desire grew stronger every time I fell asleep. My precious friend can finally be at peace in her afterlife; the somber memories of pulling the trigger are muffled by Angelica putting a piece of sugary funnel cake to my mouth, _You're eating every crumb, _she said, Angelica arguing that the cloud to our left looked like a heart, not a tree like I said, and Angelica sharing a grilled cheese sandwich with me. From the very beginning it was the two of us living in an unjust world, both of us crippled by the horrible things that happened to us.

"I can rest in peace now, thank you," she mumbles through my chest as she sniffles. "I have to go now Don, it was nice to have you here while we had the time." As she pulls away, I weakly hold on to her soft hands, never wanting to let them go. "Tell Mia I said thanks."

"Mia? How is she involved?"

"She's the reason I got to see you, she wished on a star-I think. She wished for us to talk one last time." Angelica sheepishly giggles, her voice cracking with every word. "She's a very nice girl, I like her. I've been watching her too." The blue door in the back of the room opens by itself and the sun shines a bright light that pours into the room. "Don't let her go Don. I know you really like her, I could see it since you met her. She'll make you a much happier person."

"Angelica, please don't leave me," I beg as she heads for the light where I know she'll be gone for good.

"You need Mia and Mia needs you. Why deny it? That's not the fearless Don I know," she teases as tears stream down her cheeks. She stops in front of the door and continues, "Please Don, you know I want nothing more than to have you join me. But it can't happen, _it won't ever happen!_" she suddenly screams passionately. I walk over to her to hold her in my arms again but she pushes me away. "Mia's a wonderful friend to you, isn't she?" she mutters softly as she makes no moves to wipe away her tears. "I want her to make it back home. It's an island, right?"

_"The friend you had departed this world forever and your fear keeps her painful memories inside of you," Darkrai stated as I laid on the ground, looking for the stars behind the clouds. "You will remain trapped by your Darkness if you don't let her go."_

_"If you're telling me to forget her, I won't ever do that," I protested._

_"Forgetting and letting go are not the same. You will keep Mia away as long as you fear-"_

_"Fear what?" I sat up furiously. "What do I, an immortal human, have to be afraid of?"_

_"I didn't think of you as vain," he commented sarcastically. _"_Ignorance. You fear of never realizing what you were meant to do with the undying life you were given. You fear that you might spend the rest of your life chasing something you will never grasp. You fear your greatest joys will rot in your mouth and you fear your immortality will become meaningless." He then added, "There is a way to conquer to your fear. If you find something that you're willing to protect with your life, the pain you carry will be released into your unreachable realm of sleep, where it will die."_

Despite everything inside me that's telling me to pull Angelica into my arms and keep her from that door, I turn away from her. "It's called Moonlight Town and I hope she returns too, maybe I can join her when she does. I've been rude to her lately but she forgave me. She always forgives me, no matter what. And she always apologizes to me when I mess up. She's too good to be my friend."

"So long Don." My first love departs with a smile on her face and tears trailing down her flat cheeks.

"Take care Angelica."

* * *

Pangs of loneliness tug at my heart while I sulkily gaze around the living room. Jirachi would be begging me to play tag with him, Giratina would be watching the world from my balcony, Mesprit would be going on about my feelings for Don, and Cresselia would be trying to get Jirachi to bed. This used to be a full house but it's back to its true form-a lonely house holding memories of a lonely girl. Sitting in complete darkness, I lean back on the blanket Giratina slept with. I won't ever hear their voices or see them walking around here again.

"I should go outside and watch the rain, that always helps," I mutter to myself as I get up and open the front door. Don stands in the doorway, his head to the ground as the rain soaks him. "Don, I didn't hear you knock, come in already. I don't want you in the rain." Like a zombie, he drags his skidding shoes inside and I hurry to turn the lamp on. "You're soaked. You couldn't find an umbrella huh?" It worries me that he's not speaking. Did my wish come true? Or what if he had a bad talk with Angelica? It's hard to tell if raindrops or tears are rolling down his face. "I'll get a blanket for you." I snatch one off the couch and hold it out to him but he doesn't make a move to take it; I throw it over his back.

"I can't get sick," he finally speaks. "I'm immortal."

"You're probably cold. Sit down please, talk to me." Pushing him along, I sit him down on the couch and join him, my face warming up a little. "What's wrong?" A tense silence lingers in the room, I frown concernedly. I lean back on the couch, listening to raindrops making a song with my roof. Glancing at Don, he looks as though he's been ripped apart from the inside. "I remember the first night I came here, it was raining hard like this and I was so scared of what would happen to me. I figured that's how the Pokémon felt when they came here-I had to tell them to not to be afraid, like you did when you saved me." Taking a deep breath, I stand up and pull him to his feet with surprising ease. "You said you were with me, so there was no need to be afraid. Well I'm afraid now."

Don grabs me, pulls me into a tight embrace, and buries his face in my shoulder. At first I'm paralyzed and stunned he would do that but then I sigh; among the chilled, soaked shirt and frigid raindrops on his skin, I feel two hot tears followed by a stream. I wrap my arms around him, both of us holding each other in the dim light. He silently sobs into me, holding me as if someone is about to break in and take me away. I've never felt so flushed with warmth before. The pouring rain fills the gap of silence between us for a couple of tearful minutes. He starts trembling and I rub his back soothingly.

"I-you…gave me a chance to talk to Angelica. She told me to remember the lazy days I…spent with her…and not to live my life hating myself. Mia, thank you-I will-always…thank you." When I think he's done, he stammers on, "I-I won't let anyone hurt you- I'll keep you safe, I swear on my life." He sighs as though he has shrugged off the weight of the world, his breath on my shoulder makes my insides melt. He pulls away from the close embrace and drops the blanket on the floor. As he turns away from me, I grab his wrist.

"Please don't leave me alone in this house," I mutter. He gives me a sorrowful look and escorts me upstairs, bringing me to my room. "Don't leave me alone." He sits me on the bed and leniently pushes my head on the pillow, tucking me under the light sheets. "I don't want to fall asleep, I don't want you to leave me like Mom and Dad did, like everyone else did. Promise me that you'll be right here when I wake up." The knotted halo in my head returns, making me wince.

"I'll be here when you wake up, I promise," he assures me softly as a warm tear falls on my forehead. As I feel my eyelids starting to droop, I feel him press the tear gently with his thumb and rub it off. It's not fair we have to live like this, holding on to painful memories in our hearts and pretend we're happy.

Neither of us are.

J.G.P.

**Well I wasn't gonna initially end it on this sappy note but whatevs. I'm not gonna lie, I got very emotionally towards the end but that's because it's like 2:15AM and I'm listening to the last opening song from FMA Brotherhood. If you have any questions about why this and why that, feel free to ask and let me know how I did. It took forever to do this and to extend it, most of it done at the wee hours of the night.**


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